A couple of days ago, Noey told me: "Dad, can you increase our (weekly) allowance from $1 to $1 and 1 cent?"

When i pointed out to him that this was not much of an increase, he replied: "Okay, how about $1 and 10 cents then."

Such is the simple mind of a child. Wish i could save this time in a bottle!

"Life is not a spectator sport. Get out and play!"

Update: Randy passed away on July 25th. May his soul rest in peace. What an inspiring life!

What do you do, if you knew you had only a few months to live?
The amazing Randy Pausch has the answers!

It is a story of life, love & the will to live on and make a difference during the brief time we have here in this world. Here is the lecture, "Really achieving your childhood dreams."

"Time is all we have.. (and you may find one day that you have less than you think)."

"We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand."

"Brick walls are there for a reason. They tell us how badly we want to achieve something." (paraphrased)

Seth Godin's excellent blog post that i stumbled upon today:

"The object isn’t to be perfect. The goal isn’t to hold back until you’ve created something beyond reproach. I believe the opposite is true. Our birthright is to fail and to fail often, but to fail in search of something bigger than we can imagine. To do anything else is to waste it all."

Brands of our times. Excellent customer experience for the good things in life.

• Google (user empowerment at it's very best, Gmail, blogspot, picasa..)
• Trek (bikes. Store)
• New Balance (shoes for everyday folks. Store)
• Michelin (tires)
• Cisco (spent 8.5 years there. That then gave me the freedom & flexibility for the next phase of life: 6+ years as a full-time dad to my 2 boys).
  

The boys have been learning to swim at SwimWest for a couple of years now (yes, the picture at the top mast is that of Noey).

Both of them are at level Jellyfish (7 of 16). They enjoy it thoroughly (now that they can hold their breath fully immersed under the water, for long, goggles and all - exhilarating deep-sea feeling :-))

Oh my! Where did the time go by!

Noah is currently in Kindergarten at High Point Christian School. Nathan is also there, in pre-school. The school year is winding down (less than a month left).

Just today, Nathan got through the early Kindergarten assessment (his birthday was three months past the cutoff date). He came out with flying colors except for the one query about drawing his own picture, to which he responded as 'boring'!*

So we are planning to enroll Noah (Noey) in First grade and Nathan in Kindergarten at Muir Elementary School in the fall. Our plans are still in flux: Job changes, home, relocation, health insurance.. but God is in control.

*Apparently only 5% of the kids tested do make through this. We are hoping Nathan will go to college at age 12 :-)