Great Wolf Lodge

We just got back from a "mini"-vacation... spent a couple of days at Great Wolf Lodge in Williamsburg with my sister and her family and then 3 days visiting my parents in Virginia Beach. Kelly, of course, took tons of pictures, they are here.

This place was really cool for the kids.... we'll definitely go back. Pictures probably say more than words...so I'll just leave it at that.

One funny thing that happened was that Luke got his leg stuck in the coffee table in our room.... really stuck... It took a couple of minutes to extract him. Kelly and I were cracking up... but trying to control it because we sensed that Luke was really worried. We were doing a great job of this until Luke said: "Am I going to be like this forever?"... and then both of us lost it... we haven't laughed that hard in a long time. Here's a picture Kelly took while I was trying to extract him:

Other random things:

Arena Racing: I took Luke (along w/my Uncle Jeff, my nephew Caleb and cousin Bradley) to this on Saturday. It was HI-larious and Luke LOVED it. Basically, it's little go-carts made to look a lot like NASCAR's. Lots of crashes. I really enjoyed spending that time with Luke and seeing him so excited to watch the cars.

Girl Scout Cookies: It's Girl Scout Cookie time. My personal favorites are, in order: Tagalongs (I'll eat the whole box in about 10 minutes), Dosidos, and well... those are the only two I like. I know Thin Mints are quite popular.... but... they just aren't my thing. As for the others... never tried them... don't care to... after eating box after box of Tagalongs... don't really need the extra calories. My "supplier" for the last couple of years has been a co-worker's daughter.... but I'm currently out... so if you know anyone selling... I'm buying.

IRS Audit: Nothing will send your heart to the floor like getting a "thick" letter from the IRS. I got to experience that first hand yesterday after checking the mail for the first time back from vacation. What was in the letter, you ask? Oh, just a request that we kindly send them an additional $15,000!!!!!! YIKES! No worries, though. After picking my heart up off the floor, I read through everything and figured out the problem. Thankfully, I've got the necessary forms they need and all should be well... but, still... not a fun process.

Well.... that's it for now.... since this post wasn't very funny... let me leave you with some Flight of the Conchords... as you can tell from the picture of us to the right... we are very "serious" people... we're all about dealing with the "issues"... this song contains the classic line: "Could someone please remove the cutleries from my knees". Here it is:

If you give a mouse a cookie

My kids have this book... it's called: "If you give a mouse a cookie..." Basically, it's the story of a mouse who just wants a cookie... and then, when you give him the cookie... he needs a glass of milk... and then when you give him the milk... he needs something else... and so on and so on and so on. Though not its intention, it's a great little allegory of the materialism that consumes our society and should be required reading for all of my Northern Virginia brethren desperately trying to keep up with the Jones's (but.. that's too deep for now).

Anyway... Kelly recently decided that she wanted an alarm system installed. We live in a really safe area, but Kelly watched too many "America's Most Wanted" when she was a kid -- and anybody that knows me knows that I'm gonna keep Kelly happy (because, you know the saying... if Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy -- well that and because I love her and want to... but that doesn't sound as manly).

So, I researched all the alarm options: ADT, Brinks, APX, Honeywell, etc. All required a 3 year contract at around $40 a month and would have cost around $500 for the extra options to secure the whole house. But then I found this great system online (I love the Internet). Basically, complete system for about $400 including all the options I needed and it included 18 months of monitoring for free (and only $12 a month after that). A really good deal. All I had to do was set it up, run it through my broadband and... presto... Alarm hooked up, home fully secured and wife completely happy. And the setting up was really easy... it was the stuff that happened before setting up that's blog worthy.

I set aside an entire day to get the thing set up. Kelly left and took the babies to the grandparents for the day. So, she walks out the door and the first thing I need to do is move the desk out from the wall.

Now, a bit about this desk. It was one of the first "big" purchases when we first got married ($300 when we first got married might as well have been 5 grand we were that poor) and we wanted to make sure we bought something real sturdy. And sturdy this battleship of desk was. It weighed about 10,000 pounds.... and was made of particle board (apparently particle board laced with lead) so, it was not the "best" construction.... just really, really obscenely heavy.

The first time I had to move it from our apartment to our first house, I hated it... I thought I was going to die. Then, when we moved from that house to our next house, I tried to convince Kelly that we should get rid of it. But she loved that desk and would have nothing of it (of course, she was not the one who had to carry it up to the 2nd level... but I digress). Then, when we moved into our first house up here, I tried again to convince Kelly to let us get rid of it. "Nonsense" she would say... "It's a perfectly fine desk..." So, then we took it to that house and I tried to get away with leaving it in the basement. Unfortunately, that didn't fly. So, yet again, I had to lug that thousand pound beast up a flight of stairs. And, lastly, when we moved to this house, I begged for us to get rid of it. No go. So, in our house it sat until Sunday when I started this process.

No sooner had Kelly pulled out of the driveway when I tried to move the desk... just ever so slightly and then I heard a loud "CCCCcccccccccrrrraaaaccccccckkkkk!!!!"

"Uh OH!" I knew what I had done and after surveying the damage knew it was finished. And, really, I didn't do it on purpose (though, the scene in "The Christmas Story" where the Mom "accidentally" destroys her husband's "leg lamp" certainly came to mind). Here's a picture I took shortly after doing the damage:



So, I make a quick decision and run to Target and find a cool Pottery Barn/Restoration Hardware-ish type desk. Purchase made for the bargain price of $135. Oh, and I pick up a filing cabinet at Walmart for $30 because the old desk had one integrated into it.

So, then, I take the desk home, assemble it, get the alarm all hooked up (I'm the "man", by the way... I hooked up a freaking alarm over a broadband connection and can do all kinds of cool stuff with it -- like turn out lights over the internet. If you see Kelly, be sure to remind her that her husband is the "man").

Then, I quickly realize that the new desk doesn't look as good without the $70 hutch attachment and the walls look glaringly bare. So Kelly goes and picks up the hutch and a picture.... $50. So, the running tally (not including the alarm) is $285.

Then, it becomes apparent that with the super trendy desk and the too cool $50 picture that we can't possibly put our old behemoth 1995 monitor on that desk. So, being the frugal shopper I am, I scan craigslist and find some guy selling a 19" widescreen LCD, a brand new computer (practically) and a printer/scanner/copier (still in box, never opened) for $350. So, I know a deal when I see one... and go pick it up.... in Germantown, MD.

Then, I realize one way to get to Germantown is to take White's Ferry and that it would be really cool to take the kids (telling them it would be like riding "Bulstrode" from Thomas the Tank Engine)... so I ask them to join me (well, Reagan and Luke... Will stayed at home with Kelly). The fare, roundtrip is only $6. Well, the guy was a little late... so I had time to burn and took the kids to McDonalds ($10).

So, the final tally... (this is starting to sound like one of those "priceless" Mastercard commercials)... $651.... so... the moral of this story is... drumroll..... "if you give a mouse a cookie... he's going to want a glass of milk...."

Here's the new desk.... the new monitor... and new picture...

Dinner and a Movie -- or not.

Alright... so it wasn't dinner and a movie. With three kids, anytime Kelly and I get out alone... we're on borrowed time.... so, we just did a movie. In this case, Juno. A good movie... I'd give it a solid B+. Quirky (I'm a big fan of quirky movies), funny and entertaining.... worth the $15. Now, going to the movies is pretty rare for us. There just is never something that hits us both. In general, these are the kinds of movies I like:

• Sophomoric humor (think "Talladega Nights" or "Dumb and Dumber")
• Quirky (see above -- "Oh Brother! Where art thou!", "Napoleon Dynamite", etc)
• Challenging (I like having to figure out what's going on. It doesn't bother me one bit if I'm confused for 2 hours as long as it's all sewed up at the end)
• Man Movies (a la "Gladiator", "Saving Private Ryan", "Braveheart")

Kelly prefers:

• 80's (Dirty Dancing, Mannequin, Footloose, etc)
• Romantic Comedy (Insert any handsome male actor with the young actress of the month, add a plotline where circumstances keep them apart.... then at the end there is some kind of kiss -- and you've got a winner)... "Never Been Kissed" is the perfect example here and the chick flick that started them all.... "Sleepless in Seattle"
• Musical (Sound of Music, Chicago, Hairspray, etc)
• Important note: movie MUST grab her attention in the first 10 minutes... otherwise she's going to fall asleep

Okay... so... you can see our movie likes don't exactly match up... so, going to the movies usually doesn't appeal to us (we'd rather just hang out and talk and make each other laugh). We'll occassionally bite the bullet for one another and watch something outside of our "zone" for the sake of the other's enjoyment...and, occassionally, a movie will come out that we both want to see... "Juno" being the perfect example.

Anyway, before we had kids, we went to many more movies... here is just a smattering of them:

• "The Wedding Singer": What's interesting about this is that we went to it on opening night. Nothing unusual about that right? Well... it just happened to open on Valentines Day in 1998... our first Valentines Day as an engaged couple and last Valentines Day before getting married (in May '98). GREAT movie -- the moral of the story here: any woman that will happily accompany you to an Adam Sandler movie on Valentines Day is marrying material.
• "Titanic": This movie had more of an impact on our year of engagement than any other. We first saw it after ice skating w/friends at Reston Town Center. It was December of 1997.... 11 at night and, on a whim, we decided to take in this nearly 3 hour long movie. Any movie for Kelly past 9 (see above comment about sleeping) is dangerous. Well... this was the exception. Kelly LOVED this one... and so did her good friend and roommate, Shannon (who was also engaged). They both resolved to watch it.... OVER and OVER and OVER. Kelly promised to watch it for a full 24 hours (umm... that's 8 times)....and we did. It was a good movie.... the first time... and the second time I watched it. Now, I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed.... but.. after about the 3rd time, I started noticing the acting wasn't so good (especially from Leonardo Dicrappio)...and that it had some glaring plot holes... but... you know... it made Kelly happy watching it so it made me happy. Over that winter, we even made a special trip with Shannon (and her fiance -- now husband -- Tim) to a museum in Virginia Beach that had a Titanic exhibit. Oh... and I also had to bear numerous references by both Kelly and Shannon to "Make it count"....
• "Star Wars", "Lord of the Rings", "Harry Potter", "Chronicles of Narnia": These were all a series of movies we watched with Kelly's parents. As soon as the theater got dark and the sound turned up....Kelly fell soundly asleep.
• "Sixth Sense": I had heard good things about this movie and that it was a "little" scary but it had a "great" ending. This was one of these aforementioned movies that Kelly was willing to "take a bullet" and watch with me. Well, within the first 15 minutes, I almost peed in my pants from stuff freaking me out. Kelly was being a trooper. That is until this one scene, about half hour into it, where the temperature drops and the little boy (you know, the "I see dead people" kid) walks out of his room and sees this ghost in his kitchen that starts screaming at him. Once that started, I had the heebie jeebies... and Kelly.... well.... Kelly was sobbing uncontrollably saying "I want to leave... I want to leave... I don't like this movie".... well... so we left. To this day, still haven't seen the ending.
• "Patch Adams": This movie was, perhaps, the worst movie of all time. It was Robin Williams playing the same freaking character he plays in every movie.... in fact, it might as well have been called "The Genie from Aladdin plays a Doctor"... It was supposedly "based" on a true story.... but the only truth in it is that there was really a doctor named Patch Adams. The rest of the story was so incredibly ridiculous that is was completely lacking in any believability or credibility. Nothing wrong with an opinion... right? Well... unfortunately Kelly LOVED this movie. To this day, I think it's the only movie where we had diametrically opposed opinions.... so... don't bring up "Patch Adams" around us... it's our Kryponite.
• "Jackass": We are church-going, evangelical, family-oriented Christians. Naturally, we probably protested this movie and wrote the studios telling them to stop making such "crap"... right? Wrong. We were so excited for it...we went on opening night. So, there we were... with a movie theater full of drunk frat boys and sorority girls from JMU... and us... little Christian couple in the middle of the movie theater. Kelly laughed to the point of crying. Definitely one of the most unique movie experiences (rivaled in my mind only by a 1994 showing of "Dazed and Confused" at Grafton-Stovall theater at JMU... I can still smell the skunky stench of pot and the sound of Budweiser cans being cracked open during that movie).

Ok... so... there you have it.... long post... I know... but it could be another year before we hit the movie theatres again.

Whistling: Window to my Soul

I Whistle.

Alot.

I can't help it. If I'm doing work... I whistle. Driving... whistle. In the shower... whistle. Playing with the kids.... whistle.

Now... this usually isn't a problem. As long as you're not one of those loud, agressive whistlers (you know the type.... the guys that subconsciously pick up on your whistling and then naturally try to assert their dominance by whistling the same tune as you... only with much greater gusto and volume)... all should be okay.

Well, that is until you whistle something unbefitting of your manhood.

Today... I'm walking down the hallway at work... naturally whistling.... not paying a whole lot of attention to what I'm whistling until I pass Molly, the girl that works down the hall.

Something about encountering another human being makes me take inventory of what I'm whistling.

Then... it hits me... there is no denying it.

I was definitely whistling the following:

If you change your mind, I'm the first in line

Honey, I'm still free

Take a chance on me

If you need me, let me know, gonna be around

If you've got no place to go, if you're feeling down

If you're all alone, when the pretty birds have flown

Honey, I'm still free

Take a chance on me

Gonna do my very best and it ain't no lie

If you put me to the test, if you let me try

Take a chance on me... take a chance, take a chance, chance

Yes... that's right friends.... I was whistling ABBA. No... not something acceptable... like Skynyrd, Johnny Cash, or Willie Nelson. Heck... I could have been whistling Kenny Chesney and it would have been better than ABBA.

Ah... I can't believe I got exposed. Darn you, whistling... window to my soul!

So... once I realize I'm whistling a song from a 70's Swedish pop band... I'm forced with the obvious question. Do I pretend she didn't hear and run the risk of being outted later? Or, do I own up and admit my...umm... mistake.

I choose the latter.... I poke my head in her office and sheepishly issue my mea culpa... "Umm... Molly... yes... that was Abba I was whistling... umm... ya... so... sorry."

She tries to be accommodating and pretend she didn't hear me whistling.... Thanks, Molly... I really don't like Abba... really... I promise. I mean, I love Ikea as much as the next guy... but... ABBA??? you know... give me Southern Rock... give me country... no... wait... I can't deny it.... whistling... window to my soul... gosh darnit... I want to be happy...give me ABBA, baby!..... take a chance, take a chance, chance!

Father/Daughter Dance

I just got back from taking my daughter to our 2nd Father/Daughter dance. Pictures posted here. Not too much to report, other than how much Kelly and Reagan are alike. Some of the similarities:

• Prettiest girl in the room: Though I'm sure every other father would disagree (and should disagree), Reagan... just like her mother... was the prettiest girl in the room. Reagan was keenly aware of this as she asked me once "Daddy, am I the most beautifulest?"... my answer? "The most beautifulest to me."
• Mid-date dump: Kelly is going to kill me for saying this... but, if we're out on a date and then decide to stop by a store... say the Pottery Barn... or Restoration Hardware... or even Target... she's going to have to take a swampy. I don't get it... something about those (especially trendy houseware) stores that just gives her the urge. In fact, if she's ever constipated, I tell her I'll take her to Pottery Barn... because that's a surefire way to prime the pump, so to speak. Anyway... about 1/2 way through Reagan says "Daddy, I have to POOP, P-O-O-P, POOP." Probably the only girl there that used the facilities to go #2.
• Dessert: Reagan gravitated toward the dessert table full of cookies, chocolates, brownies and cupcakes. The highlight of a date with Kelly is watching her eat some kind of chocolate dessert... it's just WAYYYYYYY more satisfying to her than I'll ever understand.
• Closet Introvert: If you know Kelly, she doesn't naturally come across as introverted. But in truth, she's painfully introverted. Reagan is the same way. She wanted to dance so badly when we got there... but just couldn't. She told me...early on.. with tears in her eyes... "Daddy, I want to dance, but can't.".... and then another time she told me she was "afraid" to dance. There's a solution to this problem.... but... you know... she's not 21 yet... Thankfully... she eased up a bit and spent the 2nd hour dancing away.

So... that's all I got... sometimes I call Reagan, "KJ".... you know... Kelly, Jr... Now, you know a little bit as to why.

Save the Republican Party

OK... so I'm sitting at my desk today... viewing the (nerd alert! nerd alert!) results of "Super Tuesday" and was concerned... it looks like John McCain is going to win the Republican nomination. McCain... War Hero... yes.... McCain... the next Reagan.... ummm... no.

In reality, I don't care for Romney much either. Then it hit me... we have to save the Republican Party. So, naturally, I checked for the domain name www.savetherepublicanparty.com and ... amazingly enough... it was available... so, I paid the big $1.99 fee and registered it.

Hmmm.... now all I have to do is figure out how I'm going to save the party. In the meantime, www.savetherepublicanparty.com points right back to this site.... so... no more typing in the unwieldy www.fairclothfive.blogspot.com if you don't want to. How's that?

On that note, I have no idea how to save the party... but, if you do... I'm all ears.

Now, I will be spending tomorrow and friday at CPAC where the President, Dick Cheney, the Presidential hopefuls (including Romney, McCain and Huckabee) will be speaking -- along with others (Ann Coulter, Mike Pence, Senators, Congressmen, etc)... so, maybe I'll get some ideas there.

If not, at least the domain name is easy to remember.

I Got Stuck at a Meeting Today

One of the absolute joys of having kids is being able to see the world through their eyes. They are very simplistic, very literal and live in a world where nothing is impossible.

Anyway, I was running late at a meeting today so I called Kelly to tell her I was going to be a couple of hours late. Kelly immediately went ahead and served the kids dinner and told them that Daddy was stuck at a meeting and would be home later.

So, they went ahead and ate their dinner and were done by the time I finally got home. As they usually do, they come running to the door as soon as they hear the garage door open. They usually pepper me with questions or tell me about their day... usually both at the same time and today was no different. Here's how the conversation went after I opened my car door:

Me: "Hi, babies! Did you have fun today?"

Luke: "Daddy, was the door small?"

Reagan, talking at the same time as Luke: "Daddy, you got stuck at a meeting! I'm eating a tootsie roll!"

Luke, repeating his earlier question because I failed to answer within the alloted time frame (which is about .2 seconds for Luke): "Daddy, was the door small?"

Just trying to get in the door and not really paying as much attention to their comments and questions as I should... and really just not having any idea what he was talking about, I just answer: "Yes... bud... the door was small"

Satisfied with this response, he runs upstairs and I overhear him telling Kelly matter of factly... "The door was small."

Still puzzled as to what he's talking about... I'm pondering it as I walk upstairs... "was the door small? the door? hmmm?"

Then it hits me.

Daddy was stuck at a meeting. Daddy was stuck at a meeting.

He's 3 years old.... and he only knows one kind of stuck... and no doubt this is how he envisioned me:





HILARIOUS.... Daddy was STUCK at a meeting!

My 4 year old taught herself to read... but failed swimming lessons

OK... I'm not one of those "my kid is brilliant" or "my kid is gifted" or whatever... Really... I'm not. Having said that.... my 4 year old is brilliant... she taught herself to read... TO READ!

Here's the deal.... she's watched a Leap Frog DVD since she was very young and was able to say her alphabet and sounds before she was 2.... you know... "The A says ah, the A says ah, every letter makes a sound, the A says ah" So, from that she knew the sounds. I spent a little bit of time with her showing her how to put the sounds together, and for awhile now she's been able to read for simple words, as long as they stuck with the correct phonics... so... words like Pop, Stop, next, etc she could read because the phonics stayed true and the word made sense. Other than that, we never really spent much time with her "teaching" her to read.

Well, a couple of weeks ago, she just started busting out reading whole books... even when the phonics didn't match up quite correctly. At first, I kind of chalked it up to half memorization (of books we've previously read to her) and educated guesses from what she knew... but then she just kept reading and reading and reading -- new books, long books, etc.

Anyway, She just finished reading "War and Peace" and greatly enjoyed it... OK... so maybe not War and Peace... but she's definitely reading Curious George, Dr. Seuss and other books all by herself.

Now... we proceed from "my daughter is brilliant" to ..... "my kids failed swimming lessons"...

That's right... they (Reagan and Luke) failed. Their inability/unwillingness to put the head underwater for 3 seconds has kept them from progressing. In fairness to them, apparently their whole class failed.

No worries, though. I told them to tell anyone that asked that they "didn't fail"... rather, that "their mother held them back"... I remember those 13 year old kids in my third grade class would always say that and that seemed to sound better.

Ice Skating with the Hebrew Magic Fairy

The Faircloth fam went ice skating this weekend at the Ashburn Ice House. Reagan and Luke had a great time and, thankfully, my co-worker was there and he was gracious enough to help us out by taking Reagan or Luke for a spin around the ice (since one of us, of course, had to stay with Will).... that helped greatly... Not much else to report here, except that the kids loved it.... Reagan desperately wanted to go "speedy fast" like the others (I love her competitive spirit)... and we'll probably go again sometime in the future. Click here for the pictures, if you're so inclined.

Now... I know you're dying to know.... Who's the Hebrew Magic Fairy?

No, it's not this guy...




That's Christopher Lowell.... master of the use of pastel-colored buttons in interior decorating...

The Hebrew Magic Fairy, of course... would be... (drum roll)... my daughter Reagan.

Here's the deal. We place an importance on teaching our children about God and the Bible. Kelly and I really think.... above all things... instilling in them a Biblical foundation is one of the best gifts we can give them. So, that means of course, we read lots of stories from the Bible. LOTS of stories... we read about Jesus, the Philistines, God, Romans, Judah... and, of course... the Hebrews...

Well, we are also fairly lenient with other books they read. You know, we're not ones for a book burning... so, as long as books aren't demonic or deliberately offensive to our faith... we'll generally be okay with them (well, Rainbow Fish is one book I REFUSE to read... they might as well subtitle that one so it reads "Rainbow Fish: A Socialist Primer). Okay... you get the idea... so in addition to the Bible, we also reads plenty of stories about princesses, fairies, cloud-living bears and the like.

Unfortunately, in the brain of a 4 year-old... things can get a bit mixed up... hence, the other day while putting on a "play" for us... she introduced herself as Reagan, the "Hebrew Magic Fairy".... Hilarious. And... it's not just Reagan... in that same "play" Luke was a flying superhero Roman Soldier.

Oh... and another quick story along these lines... we heard the song "Who let the dogs out" the other day and I asked Luke "Who let the dogs out?"... you know... secretly hoping he'd say "Daddy"... instead, he said "Noah." And.. well... I guess he's right. A 3 year old has finally answered the question we've been asking ourselves for a decade.... Noah let the dogs out, my friends. Case closed.

Anyway.. hopefully we haven't scarred them for the rest of their lives.

Odds and Ends (or... it's not a Hickey)

Been tired and/or busy and/or uninspired the last week or so... so haven't bothered putting anything up... but... here's some odds and ends from the past week:

It's not a hickey: Kelly decided a few weeks ago that it was time to start running again (after just having had the baby 3 weeks prior). And, in true Kelly fashion (that is, if she makes her mind up to do something, it will be done -- even if that requires the suspension of sanity) she insisted upon running outside... at 5 in the morning... in the dead of winter. And to keep warm, she was doing this with.... I'm not kidding.... an old knit cap... an old sweatshirt and some old ski gloves I had. Well, I wasn't going to let that happen more than once, so I bought her some new gloves, exercise pants and this cool running jacket... which is thin... yet warm and has arm/shoulder pockets for your Ipod (well, in our case, an mp3 player). And she really seems to like it. Unfortunately, there is one part of the collar that rubs her the wrong way leaving a decent sized circular red mark on her skin. So... do the math... the red circular mark left where the collar is... the collar is on the neck.... leaving behind a noticeable mark that looks very much like a hickey. It's not. Trust me... we're not 15. We did get a few odd looks at church on Sunday, though. I'd take a picture of it and post it... but, it really looks like a hickey and I don't want to run the risk of my wife's now public domain picture ending up on some STD poster on the metro... so.. I'll just leave it to your imagination what it looks like.

Heartbreaking: I've got this "feedburner" thing on my blog... so I can tell how many "hits" I've got during the day. It's totally nerdy... but weirdly entertaining. Anyway, one thing that I find fascinating is that it will show me the search terms that people enter into google that make them hit this blog. By a landslide, the most search for term that leads people here is "Redskins Season Ticket Wait List" or some variation on that theme. "People Magazine Cover" is popular, as well... and "Scott Faircloth Blog" is, interestingly enough, the third most popular.

Well, someone today hit the site with the search "What to say to my young children about my addiction?" Man... that breaks my heart... clearly that's someone that recognizes their problem and how it's impacting their children and are searching for something to help them... and then they hit my goofy site... no doubt disappointed that none of my blogs addressed the issue and merely gave admonitions such as "don't wear an 'I love hot Moms' t-shirt when taking your child to the emergency room." As a father of young children myself, it just hits me differently than it would have before I had kids. And, well, in reality... not much I can do to help them, however (while acknowledging that it might seem overly simplistic to some) I don't believe in "coincidences" and I will be praying for that person.

News on the job front: Have been promoted to "Assistant to the Regional Manager" ("The Office" reference for those that don't know -- seriously... time to start watching that show if you don't already) as of Monday. This is good news for the Faircloth Family and kind of closes Chapter 1 (the first 2 years) of our Northern Virginia/DC experiment and moves us into Chapter 2. Not sure what the title of Chapter 2 will be... hopefully not "you're fired" or "the homeless years"

Tomorrow in DC: About 2 or 3 times a month I find myself donning the suit and tie and making the trek to DC. I blend in. But, as many times as I've been there in the past 7 years or so, I can't help but think to myself that I'm walking the streets of the most powerful city in America and quite possibly the world. I look like everyone else, walk with purpose like everyone else, look like I belong like everyone else.... but still... I often feel like I'm a fish swimming in a tank full of sharks (the key is just not letting anyone know that's how you feel -- hence the reason you wear the suit and tie, walk with purpose, and walk around like you own the place).

Good night friends... I'm calling it a night.