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Last week on the eve of the big Apple announcement of their new tablet dubbed the ‘iPad’, I was reading everyone’s Tweets and speculative posts about what it would be and about how they couldn’t wait to get one. Then as the day finally arrived, I tried to be excited. As people talked about stopping what they were doing to watch the key note address, to follow the live blogs, and to hang on every bit of information that leaked out of that convention center, I realized that I didn’t care. I was actually happy to be going to work all night so I wouldn’t have to listen to all the banter on the internet about a new product that wouldn’t even be available for a few months. As much as I wanted to be excited and know everything about it, I found myself caring less and less about it. This got me wondering why. I am a tech guy. Always have been. I’ve always tried to be on the bleeding edge of technology and always wanted the new, shiny toys when they came out. After mulling all this over in my mind for a few days, I have come to one very logical conclusion: I am not the guy I was 5 years ago.

I know that’s very redundant, but hear me out on this one. Five years ago I was a die hard PC guy. I was living by myself, had been for almost 3 years at that point, and I was dating this chick I met online who lived 90 minutes away from me and was going to school another 90 minutes away from me. I had no cares and the world was my oyster. If I wanted something, I would go out and buy it. Staying up until 5am on the computer playing games or doing some coding was the norm. I was not management at work and was simply another employee. Life was good.

Five years later I am a happily married man, a new father, and sole provider for my family. I am a manager at work and have many responsibilities. Instead of a ‘fun’ car, I drive a car that is paid off in full and is very economical for what I need it to do. I work hard for what I have and haven’t used credit in almost 4 years. As for the 4am gaming sessions, I am lucky to stay up past 2 am nowadays. Rather than coming home to play a game or to do some coding, I rush home to see my wife and to play with my son. There are entire days now where the only computers I touch are our Linux terminals at work to check stock and email. I haven’t built a PC for myself in close to 7 years. My main computer is now a Macintosh which is 2 years old, and yet, still feels new to me. I’ve slowed my way of life. I’ve shifted my priorities. Rather than droll over the latest tech and blow money on something new and shiny, I’d rather take my wife out for a nice little meal, and go buy my son some new clothes or a new toy.

Does this change who I am? Sure. But only to those who cannot accept change and the natural progression of life. Do I miss owning my own computer company. No. The thought of working on a virus infested PC literally turns my stomach. Not many people know this, but I almost lost my wife due to the number of hours I was putting into my computer business along with working my full time job. The worst part about it was that I saw no $$ from the business as I was putting every last dime back into the business. My wife never made me choose between her or the business. She never had to. That’s why I love her so much. I knew what choice to make to make things right.

There’s a line from an old hacker movie that goes, “We dont care about anything unless it’s on a hard drive.” At one time in my life, that was very true. Nowadays, I gladly turn my back to my computer to spend time with my family.

Today’s technology will be obsolete in a matter of months. Family is never obsolete.

This has been a good weekend so far. Yesterday I woke up extra early for a day off (6am) and was out of the house by 7am to go do my Christmas shopping for Jess. After a stop at the bank, filling up my car, and making a quick stop, I was at the mall by 7:40am. I was out of the mall, arms full of bags, by 9am. Two more stops, and I was done with all of my shopping by 9:45am. I even managed to pick up Jackson a new bear hat and a Christmas sleeper!

After I got home, Jess was just getting out of the shower. I played with Jackson for an hour or so and we were off to do some group shopping. After picking up some meds at our vet, we were off to Sam’s Club. ONce we survived the madness that is Sam’s Club on a Saturday morning, we decided it was time for lunch. Where should one go around noon on a Saturday for lunch? The same place one should go everyday for lunch of course — Abe’s hot dogs!

Jackson was a bit fussy during lunch, which we took as hunger. Unfortunately, when we tried to fed him, he pushed the bottle away and spit out the formula. As it turns out, he just wanted to sit there and stare at the bottle. Weird, but then again, he is my son!

After lunch, we needed to head across the river to Kingston. While there, the snow storm we were waiting for finally arrived. It was nice sitting there in the car while Jess was shipping some stuff out at the UPS store watching the snow fall. Once she was done there, I headed to the state store and picked up some alcohol for Saturday night. Since it looked like it was going to snow all night, why not stay in where it was safe and warm and have a few drinks.

After all of that, we headed to my parent’s house for a few hours. Jess needed to pick up a package there, we needed to drop off cookies, and as a bonus, my dad was baking his Christmas poppy seed bread. They were even nice enough to feed us dinner while we were there. Bonus!

Once we left my parent’s house, we headed to the grocery store and stocked up on everything we don’t buy at Sam’s Club. Once we got our order (and saving over $27 with our Gold Card!!) we finally came home and put everything away. Once settled in, we put Jackson down, had a few drinks, and played Mario Kart Wii. What a great day!

Today we all slept in and are relaxing around the house. We ended up only getting about 2 inches of snow last night, so at least that was easy to clear this morning. Right now, I am doing some house work. Well, technically I’m writing this post, bu you know what I mean. Later on we’re bringing down all of the presents from the attic and wrapping them up.

So in summary, I had a weekend full of snow, fun, and family. What else could you ask for?

Yesterday was one of those days that will be remembered for years to come.

The day started out early (8:00am) with me cleaning the house and moving various pieces of furniture. Jess’s family was coming up to do their cookie swap, Jess’s birthday dinner, and her birthday party as well. To accomodate everyone in our house, I had to move my computer back into Jackson’s room, and setup our 6 foot banquet table and 8 folding chairs. Now to do this simple task in a house as small as ours, is like one of those old sliding puzzle games that has one piece missing. You have to move one piece at a time, and to get something from one side to the other, several pieces must be moved, and then moved again. Long story short, about 40 minutes later, the computer was moved a whopping 15ft away and the table was up.

The weather men earlier in the week had talked about snow this weekend, but truth be told, we didn’t lay much creedence in it. Every time we want snow, we get rain. Every time we want rain, we get sun. And when we want sun, we get monsoon. Sense a pattern here? Anyway, Jess was out with her mother shopping the in morning and I was feeding Jackson. Then around 10:30am or so, I spotted something come flying past my window. It was snow! It was light and fluffy, and gently falling to the ground. I wasn’t sure how long this would last, but I wanted to savor every minute of it. As it would turn out, I didn’t have to. After a good 90 minutes, it was coming down increasingly harder. As I sat at the table eating some left over sweet & sour chicken, the radio reported that they had just increased our snow totals. The valley cities were now getting 1-3 inches and the Pocono mountains were looking at 3-6. This was great!

I called my sister over to watch Jackson for a little while so I could run out and grab a cake for Jess and pick up her present from my parent’s house. The snow was not sticking to the roads, but that was just about the only surface it was not sticking to. It was that wet, fluffy snow that has the beautiful characteristic of laying on tree branches and filling in the holes of a chain link fence. It literally blankets everything and gives everything you look at that wonderful Holiday feeling.

A few hours later, Jess’s family showed up and they started decorating cookies. Afterwards, the kids went out into the yard and started building snowmen. I was curious, so I went out with a measuring stick to see how much had fallen. According to my yard, we had about 4″ of snow on the ground around 3pm.

Around 4:30pm, we had a very nice dinner, immediately followed by an ice cream cake and brownies. Even Gavin managed to sneak over for some cake! We started to cleanup afterwards, and everyone was gone by about 7:00pm. Jess and I hung out for a while, enjoying the Christmas lights, snow, cookies, and some TiVo goodness. A few hours later, we headed off to bed together. All in all, it was a great Holiday day.

(And thanks to my wonderful wife who can do no wrong, my post has been edited so that I don’t sound like a moron who can’t write clearly.)

So this is it; the post I have been slowly writing in my head the last few weeks. I have approached and then re-approached this post from so many angles that my head feels like it’s caught in a tailspin. So I have decided to just open up Word and start writing what comes to mind. Here we go…

As I sit here on this chilly morning of November the first, two thousand and nine, I am left with many things dancing across my mind as I sip on my second mug of hot green tea.

My first thought is how good Sting’s new CD, ‘If On A Winter’s Night…’ is. It has kept me company this morning filling my thoughts and senses with the feeling of winter and its ubiquitous Holiday, Christmas. I have been looking forward to this approaching Christmas all year. No, it’s not for the gifts that will be exchanged between friends and family, but for the sole experience of family. What do I mean? Let’s talk about family.

I sit here on the eve of my son’s third week of being out of the womb. I thought I knew what to expect when the time came to really be a father (post womb) but I was not prepared for certain experiences, which is something that is rare in my life. You see, I tend to be an information junkie. Couple that with my obsessive personality, and you have someone who wants to learn everything about a given subject or situation that he is either interested in, or about to come face to face with. Just ask my wife if you do not believe me. I could tell you without hesitating the name of the planet where SG-1 discovered their first ZPM (Zero Point Module) – which is Praclarush Taonas by the way – but I would not be able to tell you what 95% of the stuff under the hood of my car does. Why? Because I’m not a car guy, however, I am a sci-fi guy. So, back on track people. I thought I knew what it was going to be like to be a dad simply from talking with my own father, my friends who have since become fathers, and the best parent a boy could have, the Internet.

First, let me dispel something all fathers now know. No amount of information, no amount of talk, and certainly no amount of research will prepare you for witnessing the birth of your first child. I thought I was prepared both intellectually and emotionally, and I was wrong on both counts. Watching my wife go through what she did made my heart hurt. No one wants to see their loved one go through unimaginable amounts of pain, whether it has a good outcome or not. I kept promising her that if I had access to Asgard beaming technology I would beam Jackson out. (Stargate joke) After watching her struggle with getting our son out with over 2 hours of pushing, it was finally show time. When I saw my son’s head starting to come out, I thought it was pretty cool. When I quickly realized that was only part of his head when It tripled in size and quickly grew eyes and a nose, I was duly impressed. Then, in one last push, I saw my son’s entire body literally leap from my wife’s in one smooth motion. When they laid him on my wife’s chest, I was literally speechless. Again, nothing could have prepared me for that moment. I instantly wanted to cry tears of unbridled joy. Instead, I kept my focus since not only was my wife’s mother crying in a chair on the other side of the room, but being my wife’s coach, I did not want her to lose her focus. We’re still weren’t done here. The doctor handed me a pair of scissors and I cut my son’s umbilical cord. After that, they rushed him over to what I affectionately called the ‘landing platform’ and started making sure he was good to go. I stayed with my wife for a few minutes until we got the thumbs up for the nurses. At that time, my mother-in-law took my place at my wife’s side and I went to our son’s to make sure everything was all right. I remember looking down at him as he lay there and instinctively extended my pinkie out to him and he grabbed a hold of it with all the strength someone only 3 minutes old could muster. It was at that moment that for the first time in the 10 months we had been pregnant, this was all real to me. There I stood, holding my son’s hand. Wow.

After checking in with my wife, I told her I was going to let the rest of our family know that Jackson had made it into this world unharmed and unscathed. She smiled through tears and told me to go. I left my wife with her mother and headed out into the hallway. I made it about 15 feet before I had to stop and compose myself. The emotions finally hit me full force. I found myself doing something that I do not do easily – I was crying. But these were not tears of sorry, but of pure joy. I could only remember one other time in my life where I shed pure tears of joy and happiness – at my wedding when I saw my wife walk into the chapel in her wedding gown. I then realized why I had only done this twice in my 32 years on this planet. These were the only times I had that ‘prefect moment’. Everything was right in the universe at that moment. Nothing else mattered. Life was perfect.

Composing myself after a few minutes, I made way to the exit of the delivery ward, which was right across the hall from the waiting room. In there, I saw our collected families. It was also at that moment that I got to do what every son hopes to do one day; I got to tell my dad I was a dad. We shook hands and gave that nod that only guys can do. We understood each other now. Without speaking, I now understood why he’s done everything he has up and to this point. It wasn’t about him; it was about his kids.

I left the waiting room promising to come back out once we had a green light to have visitors. I headed back to our room. Upon arriving, they were just wrapping up my son in blankets. They were still working on my wife and waiting for more pain meds, so I got to be the lucky person to hold my son. When they put him in my arms, life once again changed in ways I could never have imagined. Just like in that unspoken conversation my father and I just had, I understood my dad more in that moment then I ever have in the past 32 years. When you hold your son for the first time, time literally stops. Time becomes non-linear. You see the past and the future laid out before you life you would a timeline in a book. You see yourself in that little man in your arms and imagine what it was like for your dad to hold you for the first time. Then you imagine what it’s going to be like for your son to hold his first son in the far off future when you’re the one waiting anxiously in small room with a TV and a vending machine. I saw my son’s first words, first steps, first day of school, first driving lesson, his graduation day, his wedding day, and the day I would give him the same handshake I just got. All of that took place in a mere few seconds. All I could do was smile. I the past 5 years I was lucky enough to get everything I had ever wanted. I now had my own family. I have a wife I love beyond what words can express and a son that is now my very reason for being.

Since that day, I make it a rule to constantly keep a picture of my son with me, whether it’s on my computer as my desktop wallpaper, or on my iPhone. Whenever I get stressed, worried about money, or think that things just aren’t going right, I pull out that picture and look at my son, Jackson. When I look into his eyes, I know that no matter what, everything is going to be all right. I’m his father, and he is my son. As long as that never changes, life will always be good.

Been busy the last few days. With what you may ask? My son. What son? My son who was born on Monday night. Long post, plus a plethora of pictures to follow in the next day or so.

I did something this week I swore I would never do — I bought an iPhone.

I have been considering this for the past 2 weeks or so, ever since they announced the new 3G S model. In the end, I was not only able to convince myself that it was a good idea, but I was also able to convince my wife.

I met Jess for dinner this past Tuesday, and it was during this dinner that I presented my case for breaking my current contract with Verizon and not only committing myself to a new 2 year contract with AT&T, but laying down the cabbage for a new iPhone 3G S. By the time we left the restaurant, she was not 100% convinced. We next headed over to Pier 1. I made my case again while shopping there as well. This time, I added that if we both went over to AT&T and got a family plan, we might save money every month. She was not quite as hip as I was about breaking her Verizon contract since she had over another full year left on hers. Next, we were headed to Staples. We did not talk about my idea at all there. In fact, it was my lovely wife who was to bring up the topic. While walking back to our cars, she asked if I wanted to go look at iPhones and what the price for a family plan would be. I asked if she was sure, and gave me that little wry smile that told me she was up to something. So, off to the mall we went.

Arriving at the AT&T store, we went right to the counter and started asking questions. Within 5 minutes all of our questions were answered. Yes, if we went on their cheapest family share plan not only would we have more minutes then we use every month, but those minutes would roll over each month. And yes, we would save on average about $40 a month on our cell bill. After talking with the clerk about the iPhone and the plan, I looked to my wife for that seal of approval that all married men need. She smiled and said everything sounded good to her. And then, to my utter dismay, she looked to me and told me she wanted an iPhone as well. My geek heart swelled. I looked proudly at the clerk and said we’ll take the plan and 2 iPhones. And this is where the clerk killed my proud geek heart. They were sold out of the iPhone 3G S and would have to order them. The lead time? Seven to fourteen days. I killed the urge to buy the old regular 3G model for instant gadget satisfaction and ordered them. I went home unfulfilled, like a little kid that just told Santa what he wanted for Christmas, but now needed to wait 2 weeks until Christmas.

The next day I got a nice email from AT&T letting me know my order for 2 iPhones had been placed. The email said that the order was processing — nothing more. It did have that nice disclaimer that my order should be shipped withing the next 7 to 14 days. For the next few days, every time I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket my heart skipped a beat in anticipation that it was the AT&T store calling to let me know our phones were in. Nothing. In fact, the status of our order seemed to be made of permafrost. Then, on Friday morning while I was home having lunch, I decided to check the status again right as I was leaving to go back to work. That’s when my heart skipped a beat. The phones had shipped! I quickly clicked away on the FedEx tracking number to see when they would get there. Much to my shock and dismay, they were shipped overnight and would arrived at the store that very day before 3pm. Needless to say, I went back to work in a much better mood then I had left. My shift was only until 2pm that day, and I was headed to the mall immediately after.

I arrived at the mall around 2:30pm and headed directly to the AT&T store. I had thought about chilling for a while and waiting until the 3pm deadline, but I decided to look lady luck in the eye and take a chance. I walked in and went right up to the counter. They asked what I needed and I told them I was here to pick up 2 phones for Shafer. A guy went into the back and emerged a few minutes later with…2 large boxes in the hands. They had arrived!! After about 20 minutes of activations, porting phone numbers, and paperwork, I left the AT&T store with 2 new iPhones for my lovely bride and me.

My first impressions of the iPhone? Awesome! My second impression after using it for a full day today? Bad ass! Awesome phone! Even my wife can barely put hers down. I think this was one of the better purchases we have made. We both have great phones to take some great pictures and videos of Jackson with, and we are saving a lot of money with having a new, condensed cellular plan. All in all, a win win situation.

And of course, it wouldn’t be me if I didn’t immediately geek out my iPhone!