Headlines

To My Children:

At the time that you were born, information is passed via the internet, social networking sites like MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter, and quick articles and blogs. People probably still get newspapers these days, but most of the time we find things out "real time" through quickly updated News Feeds, rumors through social networking sites, and millions and millions of blogs. It's not uncommon to hear people say "I'll Google it," which basically means that they'll go on the internet and go to the Google.com search engine.

It's very common to hear phrases like "status update" (quick updates on Facebook), or that they "tweeted," (basically the same thing, but on Twitter), or they "found this thing on Pinterest" (basically an online place to share links of anything from fashion to recipes to funny pictures to do-it-yourself projects). If they talk about MySpace, you wonder to yourself, "is that site still even functioning? I wonder what my password is..." If you're wondering about my stance on the social networking - I used to have a MySpace account, I'm checking Facebook far too often, I don't understand Twitter, and Pinterest is my new best friend.

Instead of calling someone, you'll "text" them, and the phone land line services are becoming obsolete (home phone that isn't mobile? I know. What is this, the dark ages?). Since I work for AT&T, fortunately mobile phones, smart phones like the iPhone and blackberry, internet services and now new technology in television services are booming. What is ironic is that now more than ever, people are using the written word to communicate to a mass audience, and it seems that increasingly less and less people know how to spell or put together complete sentences. So it's a big mess out there, and I doubt it gets any better by the time you are old enough to experience these things. At any rate, you will know how to spell and write a sentence correctly. That much I know for sure.

I mention these things because I want to apologize for not keeping a "baby book" for you. A baby book is a literal book with a few pictures, some lines asking about your first words, first foods, when you first took a step. Well, that wasn't enough for me, and ironically it also became too time consuming to keep up with. I wanted to remember more than that, I had way more to say (sometimes too much), and in an age where we are constantly on the computer, moving away from that actually becomes a chore. You mean I actually have to PRINT a picture and TAPE/GLUE it inside? Which picture do I choose? I have to open the book every time you do something and write it down? One thing you probably won't miss about having the baby book is the weird custom to keep your umbilical cord taped to one of the pages, or your baby hairs from your first hair cut. I'm sorry if you wanted those things.

So this blog is becoming your baby book. The pictures, stories, and milestones will be available to you so you can read about who you were and how you became the person you are to become. But more and more lately, I wonder if it would also be interesting to you to know who I am, and maybe if I can get your Dad to write in here more often, to know who he is. So some of that information is going to be mixed in here more as we go. Maybe you won't care much when you're 8, or 12, or 16 . . . but maybe it will be interesting to you when you're 25 or 30. And if not, you can skip those pages.

In these old fashioned baby books, parents often would put in newspaper headlines or actual clippings of articles containing current events of the day. It occurs to me that I haven't done that, so I'm playing a little catch up.

When Adam was born, it was right before the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Nothing exciting happened, but Spain beat the Netherlands 1-0 in overtime play.

Here are some other Top Headlines from 2010:
- Haiti Earthquake
- Apple Unveils the iPad
- Ongoing Global Recession
- Full Body Scanners are installed in airports, and people talk a lot about being violated by TSA's pat downs.
- Barack Obama declares the end of US Combat Operations in Iraq (however troops are still sent over there even two years later)
- The Dallas Cowboys do not make it to the playoffs (again).

In 2011:
- The fifth most powerful earthquake ever recorded triggered an over-130-foot-tall tsunami that slammed into Japan.
- Occupy Wall Street, a little movement started and aimed at shining a light income inequality, became Occupy Everything.
- Osama Bin Laden is killed.
- 10 Year anniversary of 9/11
- The Texas Rangers go to the World Series (but lose to the St. Louis Cardinals)
- The Dallas Cowboys do not make it to the playoffs (again).

Lots of other stuff happened too, obviously, but these are the big ones.

Books that are popular: The Hunger Games Trilogy, The Fire and Ice Series (Game of Thrones), Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and the Shades of Grey series. I have only read the first two, because since grad school I have such little time to read that I feel I must limit it to fantasy and science fiction, as those are my favorites.

Popular Television shows (not my favorites, but ones people apparently like): Glee, How I Met Your Mother, Big Bang Theory, So You Think You Can Dance, The Voice, and a whole slew of terrible reality TV shows (oh, gosh no I don't have an opinion on that...)


2012 is an election year and Barack Obama is running for his second term as President. As you will soon learn as we grow as a family, I remove myself from most political conversations. It's not because I don't care or don't understand what's going on... it's that when I read about issues or watch the news, I am infuriated by the selfishness and lack of empathy on both sides. I also think that there's no honest politician, and I hate being lied to. Therefore, voting is always a challenge for me - I hate voting for someone who lies to me.

Knowing this, I will most likely not do much writing about political issues to share "thoughts from mom (and sometimes dad)," in your "baby book." I am no expert on religion, politics, social issues or economics, and I have no desire to be. Most of what I think or hope is born from my mere experience as an observer of the human condition, and what values/skills I'd like to teach to you. Now that I am an adult, I would love to hear about my parents' thoughts on things as we grew up (when we were at an age where it was appropriate to have those conversations). So that I don't miss the opportunity, I'm going to make an effort to share that with you as well when the mood strikes.