Thomas Dow entered the world today to meet his parents Benjamin and Elizabeth. Thomas was a little eager and arrived a month early but with much excitement. Little Thomas weighed 5 lbs. 10 oz. and was 19 inches long and is perfectly healthy.

I spoke to my brother today. He called to tell me the good news at about 9:30 a.m. The joy in his voice was so strong that I too felt some of that joy that comes with being a parent for the first time. I am so happy for Ben and Liz. I am so happy for little Thomas because he has two great parents. I am happy for our family because Thomas was named after my father – more than 27 years after his death – and will bring gentle reminders of a father, husband, brother and son lost too soon.

As you know, Andrea and I are expecting twins in June. But today is one of the few days where I haven’t thought much about that. Instead, my thoughts are with my younger brother and his family. I am proud to see the type of man he has become and I’m even more proud to know that he is going to be a great father – something he didn’t have himself growing up.

I’m sure he’ll teach Thomas the important things like what the Infield Fly Rule is, or when to go “All In” in poker. But I also know he’ll be great at the little things – reading a favorite children’s book over and over again, building spaceships out of Legos, or snuggling on the couch while watching a ball game.

Thomas, you are one lucky kid. I’ll be sure to tell you that one day.

When I was a kid, I used to hate it when it rained on the weekend, because I couldn’t go out and play after a long week at school.

As I got older – into adulthood – I hated it when it rained on the weekend because then I couldn’t go out for a run or go to the beach after a long week at college or work.

Now, as an adult I hate it when it rains on the weekend because I can’t mow the lawn.

Sometimes being a grown-up sucks.

Andrea’s friend Karla is visiting us this weekend. Karla lives in Denver, Colorado where the temperature is near absolute zero right now. So, today she HAD to go running on our warm California beach. Andrea, being pregnant, obviously could not run with her. So, I was recruited to run with her and I willingly agreed. That was before I saw that it was raining icicles at our “warm” California beach.

As we got out of the car, raindrops began to fall. We ran through the dry sand towards firmer sand along the water line. Snowgirl didn’t seem bothered by the deluge of subzero rain that was cascading on the beach as we trudged along through wet sand. About 3 minutes into the run, it began to pour. Hair product began dripping into my eyes and my clothes began to stick to my body. My legs began to tighten up as I tried to keep up with Mountain Girl. As she reveled in more oxygen than she’s had in years, I tried to calculate a way to get out of this Arctic wind. I appealed to whatever good sense Karla has in her by asking if we could cut down our 30 minute run to 20 minutes.

She agreed, and in a few minutes it was time to turn back. We headed back towards the car and I started to play mind games to distract me from the numbing pain and cold that had taken over my body. The Snow Queen started running zig zags back and forth in front of me so I could keep up with her. Finally, I spotted the point where we had started. She decided to keep going and I left the Winter Woman to finish her run alone.

I made it back to the warmth of my car to find Andrea all warm and toasty sitting in the car waiting for us. She laughed as she saw me looking like a wet dog. As I got into the car, I told her:

“You Colorado women are crazy.”

I pulled into the gas station in one of the poorest parts of San Diego. As I got out of my car, a large black man with his trunk open was holding five or so DVD cases fanned out in his large hands like playing cards. “You want some DVD’s” he asks me. I make eye contact, mumble “no thanks” and he nods and continues to shop his wares.

I seemed to be the only one not interested in buying his bootleg DVDs.

As I filled up my tank, a line formed at this car. An older white lady bought at least four and the others were just as eager. The capitalist spirit is alive and well in Southeastern San Diego.

As I finished up filling my tank, the line was starting to dissipate as the transactions were fast and furious. Another man approached him. I looked over to see his car was parked the same way, the trunk open, on the other side of the lot. He handed the guy a lit joint.

Two businessmen taking a break, smoking some pot, and talking about their day.

Andrea says I can’t go back there anymore.

The term “morning sickness” is totally misleading. They should call it “all day long sickness” because Andrea gets sick any time. To her credit, she has not lost too many lunches, so to speak, when she’s feeling nauseous. Tonight, however, was not her night.

Let’s just say, the Taco Bell 7-layer burrito looked a lot better when I handed it to her than it did in the bathroom sink.

One of the books I’ve been reading about twins made a casual reference about couples with twins not being able to sit together when they fly. I was unsure as to why this would be the case so I asked the flight attendant on our flight back from Colorado about this. She explained that there is only one extra oxygen mask per row. If we have two babies sitting on laps, there aren’t enough masks to go around. She also said that we probably wouldn’t even be seated across from each other since these extra masks are often used by flight attendants as they move around the cabin during an emergency and they don’t want too many taken up in one area of the plane. If we want to make sure we can sit together, we need to buy one extra seat.

It looks like we’ll be relying on family to visit us for the next couple of years.

In my prior post, I listed some high-cost toys but now I get a bit more practical.

First, is the Ryobi AirGrip Laser Level. This level is great for the one-man jobs around the house. It attaches to dry wall, wall paper and other similar services. I couldn’t find it at the Ryobi website, but it is sold at The Home Depot for $40.

Keeping with the home improvement theme, this hammer by Estwing, looks so cool, I’d go looking for things to hammer. It’s weight-forward design makes swinging it easy and drives in those pesky nails more efficiently. And it’s a steal at $30.

Finally, for the stocking stuffer, the most high tech razor around. The Gillette M3Power razor has a tiny motor that vibrates the three blades side to side to help saw through stubble, leaving your face as smooth as a baby’s (or two!) bottom.

I was reading a book about twins that chronicles conception through the first year. I stopped short when I read the following…

“In the beginning, you can expect each infant to go through 10 diapers a day.”

I’m no math genius but even I know that equals 140 diapers – a week. If you do not have it now, buy stock in Huggies.

Someone mentioned we should get a diaper genie. If a diaper genie magically makes 140 diapers appear each week, I’m sold.

Thanks to the folks at Men’s Health magazine, I have come up with some great Holiday gifts for us guys. Here are a few of my favorites…

For the guy who refuses to ask for directions, a 3-D portable GPS navigation system from Tom Tom called the Tom Tom Go. Only $900!

I never leave home without my sunglasses. Now I don’t have to leave home without my tunes either with the Oakley Thump MP3 Sunglasses. $395 for 128mb or $495 for 256mb.

The geniuses at Nike figured out that the best running shoe is the bare foot. The Nike Free is designed to mimic your bare foot in running. This looks like a really cool shoe. Only $100!