Computerjargon.com

GRANDPARENT WARNING: Take this with a grain of salt. He is 2 after all.

A tradition in the Motylinski family has been advent calendars. When we were kids it was a great way to tide us over until Christmas. Every morning before school we would get to open another door and enjoy the bits of chocolate inside.

My parents have passed the tradition on to Riley. Being responisble grandparents they chose to fill some of the days with little trinkets, cutting down on the daily sugar intake. As parents we have appreciated it.  Riley’s sugar spikes tend to lead to fits so the less sugar the better.

We’re 10 days through the calendar and I thought I would break down the trinkets and Riley’s reaction.

So far the candy and the slinky have been the big hits with him. Which anyone with children could have guessed. But I do appreciate the wrist bands.

Before I met Don almost 14 years ago Courtney told me that he had gotten sick. She told me that her grandfather had gone to Asia on business over 20 years ago and never came back the same. She said he had lost his short term memory and kept notes in a notebook.

Don and I ended up sitting together in the family room, alone, at some family function. He looked at me and said, “How’s the weather?” I made some sort of comment about it being a nice day out. He said, “I used to live in D.C. Too hot in the summer, too cold in the winter.” For the next 8 years this was the extent of our conversation. Every Christmas and Thanksgiving Don would ask how the weather was and tell me about D.C.

In his notebook, Courtney told me, he wrote notes to himself to remind him of things. He had fallen ill with encephalitis before his grandkids were born so he barely knew or recognised them. He would keep notes on who his grandkids were and such but it never seemed to change the conversation.

After we were married we took Dottie our Great Dane over to my inlaws one weekend while Don and Adaline, Don’s wife, were in town. I had grown accustom and comfortable with the D.C. story. We sat down with Don in the room and sort of talked around him as usual. As the conversation died down Don piped up, “That’s an oversized dog you have there!” In the 8 years I had known him I had never heard him say anything except the D.C. story. He went on to mumble something about a dog he had once. After that, every time Don would see Dottie he would tell us about how oversized she was.

A few years later Don would open up a new story about sneaking in to watch the Packers play through the fence. Though Courtney told me he had told the story before, it was the first time I heard it.

Don passed away last week from complications of pneumonia. While I didn’t/couldn’t develop a deep bond with him, his stories were always appreciated. He was not a complicated man when I knew him which made it easy to appreciate him. I will miss hearing about D.C. this Christmas.

Christmas was a whirlwind around our house. Even though I had a full week off to enjoy being with the family the days passed quickly. We spent our time going between houses, showing of Riley, and generally having a good time.

For Christmas Riley started smiling. It might seem like a simple thing but babies aren’t born with a smile on their face. For the first 6 weeks he would accidentally smile. You could tell it wasn’t real because he couldn’t repeat it. A few days before Christmas we got Riles up in the morning and to our surprised he gave us this big smile after he recognized us. It was odd because he doesn’t usually acknowledge us much except that we picked him up and he would stop crying. For the first time our kid was excited to see us! He continued to smile at us for a good half hour every time his eyes focused on us.

Ever since then he smiles when we get him up in the morning….Oh, yeah, and right after he drops a load in his diaper too.

Listen up friends, relatives, and in-laws. I’m never one to make up a very good Christmas list. The requests for the list are already starting to pile up. So I’ve created this ultimate Christmas list. It’s organized by price and centralized in one location. Here you will find what I want for Christmas. From here on out, you’re on your own.

If you’ve made it this far and nothing really floats your boat, you can never go wrong with gift certificates to Caribou Coffee, Best Buy, or Express.

Dear Santa,

All I want this year for Christmas is the rabbit from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Hope all is well,

jason.

Well, for all intensive purposes Christmas is over. I have to head back to the grandparent’s house next weekend but all the other relatives have been covered. I spent a whirlwind 24 hours at Courtney’s grandparent’s yesterday. I’ve never seen so many people in one spot in my life. I like to think my family is larger. But mine pales in comparison to the amount of relatives which manage to jam themselves into that small house in the middle of Wisconsin.

So, what did I get? A ton of stuff I would have never bought for myself. But that’s the good thing. That’s why I love Christmas. Not because there are things that I want. If I want something. I go get it. I love the fact that someone took some time out of their life to find something that would represent how important our relationship is. So, on to the list.

1. A subscription to Linux Journal (The geekest thing I got this Christmas)
2. A Zen fountain
3. An Mp3/CD Player

4. Pants, 2 Sweatshirts, and a neck/hood thingy.
5. A “Who moved my cheese?” desk calendar
6. A food mixer
7. A book of The Onion articles and a t-shirt that says “I’m in a promising local band.”


That’s all I can remember off hand. If I missed something it’s not due to my distaste with it. I just have a horrible memory. And no, this is not in any sort of order.

Anyone else have Christmas shopping left to do? I have 4 people on my list. And I still have 2 gifts to buy. I’m going to go procrastinate some more.