This week was a good week for many different reasons. I learned that the STEM program that I have been working to build got final approval to move into a building that we have been looking at. The cool part about that is the company that owns the building is not going to charge us anything to be there. The people that use this building are from a charter school. Three in fact. The building is big and beautiful, heated and lit well. That is much better than where we used to be for building robotics. Don't get me wrong I appreciated having a building to build the robot in. It was awesome, but what an upgrade we are going to have this year. It will be fun being in a building with other teams and to be able to help each other out.
The school that we are moving into is trying to focus on being engineering focused. The robotics programs that we are going to be bringing there really match up with their goals. When I went to talk to them about my idea for keeping local teams together and helping one another they jumped at the idea. I think they are as excited about this as I am. They want to start teams for every level they have in the building K-12. This will be a good experience for me since I have never seen any other levels other than the high school teams.
I have been talking to my oldest son. He just graduated from the nuclear program in the Navy. He was deployed on a submarine and is now out for his first deployment. Things have really changed since I was there. When I was there we could only get 40 word messages from home. There was no email and you definitely never got the chance to send a message home. Now I can send emails as much as I want to and I get responses back. Talking to him brings back memories of when I was on the submarine and working through my qualifications.
William is doing Okay this week. He has started a new bad habit of swearing at his friends. This is a frustrating problem since we do not swear at my house. He was kicked out of daycare two weeks ago and has be written up a few more times since then. He has spent a lot of time in his room because of his choices. We continue to focus his attention to the good things and redirect when the focus goes the wrong direction. This can be a little hard when he get conflicting views from other places in his life.
Lucky turns three this weekend. We are having a birthday party for him today before William goes to his mothers house. William thought that we would be inviting all of Lucky's friends over for a party. That is a cute idea. He also thought everyone would be stopping by. I told him that it would just be us. This week we also got to talk about death. We were in the car and we started talking about Lucky when I told William that he need to spend time with Lucky and be his friend because he would not be around for long. He asked if Lucky was going to die. I told him not right away but most dogs his size only last to around 12 years old. He started crying and told me that he didn't want Lucky to die. He has been petting him a lot more and I see him caring for him more now. I guess it made him appreciate Lucky more. I really didn't mean to have a discussion about death that day but I guess it was good at the same time.
Getting to know me: I guess if I am really going to let you get to know me through this blog than I need to add some stuff about me once in a while. After college, GO BLUE, I went into the Navy. I went through the nuclear power program just like your big brother. I also got to go through an extra school for radiation and chemistry called ELT school. The ELT stands for Engineering Laboratory Technician. This meant that my job was about radiation and contamination controls and chemistry for the steam plant and reactor plant. I really didn't enjoy my time in the Navy. I didn't mind being on a submarine so much. I tell people it was like having one really long bad day when I was out to sea. We didn't get much sleep. We trained all of the time and we drilled a lot. There wasn't much time for fun. You were there to do a job so you did it. While I was in your big brothers' mom left and I became a single father just like I am with you. The difference this time was that I was full time 24/7 with no help from his mom. I got out of the Navy almost a year early because of this. I guess that was one really good thing that came out of that. I also got to spend all of my time with your brother and I am also very grateful for that too.
I was afraid of becoming a father back then. My father was abusive and I did not want to become that kind of person. I was always told that you become your father over time and I was afraid that anger was inside of me somewhere. When your brother's mom confronted me about having a baby I said no for a long time. Almost a year and a half later, we finally had your brother. I was afraid that the anger would take over just like it did with my father. I found out along the way that it is a choice that you make inside of yourself every time something happens. You chose to lash out in anger our you learn to control things inside and reason through them. There will not always be an answer but it is better than beating someone with a belt until they bleed. I was lucky to be a father to you and your brother. I wished things turned out different for both of you. I wished we could have had the perfect family life with a mother and father but we were not dealt that life. I try to make the best decisions that I can for you. I try to show you each day how important you are to me. I miss you on the days where you make bad choices and you end up in your room. I enjoy reading to you just the same way I did with your brother. It made me smile when he asked if I read and sang songs to you like I did with him. I wasn't sure he would remember. So when I found out he did it really brought a smile to my face. I tried my best to be a good loving father to him and I am trying with you too. I don't always make the right choice but know that I make my choices with love.
I love my boys,
Your Loving Dad
The school that we are moving into is trying to focus on being engineering focused. The robotics programs that we are going to be bringing there really match up with their goals. When I went to talk to them about my idea for keeping local teams together and helping one another they jumped at the idea. I think they are as excited about this as I am. They want to start teams for every level they have in the building K-12. This will be a good experience for me since I have never seen any other levels other than the high school teams.
I have been talking to my oldest son. He just graduated from the nuclear program in the Navy. He was deployed on a submarine and is now out for his first deployment. Things have really changed since I was there. When I was there we could only get 40 word messages from home. There was no email and you definitely never got the chance to send a message home. Now I can send emails as much as I want to and I get responses back. Talking to him brings back memories of when I was on the submarine and working through my qualifications.
William is doing Okay this week. He has started a new bad habit of swearing at his friends. This is a frustrating problem since we do not swear at my house. He was kicked out of daycare two weeks ago and has be written up a few more times since then. He has spent a lot of time in his room because of his choices. We continue to focus his attention to the good things and redirect when the focus goes the wrong direction. This can be a little hard when he get conflicting views from other places in his life.
Lucky turns three this weekend. We are having a birthday party for him today before William goes to his mothers house. William thought that we would be inviting all of Lucky's friends over for a party. That is a cute idea. He also thought everyone would be stopping by. I told him that it would just be us. This week we also got to talk about death. We were in the car and we started talking about Lucky when I told William that he need to spend time with Lucky and be his friend because he would not be around for long. He asked if Lucky was going to die. I told him not right away but most dogs his size only last to around 12 years old. He started crying and told me that he didn't want Lucky to die. He has been petting him a lot more and I see him caring for him more now. I guess it made him appreciate Lucky more. I really didn't mean to have a discussion about death that day but I guess it was good at the same time.
Getting to know me: I guess if I am really going to let you get to know me through this blog than I need to add some stuff about me once in a while. After college, GO BLUE, I went into the Navy. I went through the nuclear power program just like your big brother. I also got to go through an extra school for radiation and chemistry called ELT school. The ELT stands for Engineering Laboratory Technician. This meant that my job was about radiation and contamination controls and chemistry for the steam plant and reactor plant. I really didn't enjoy my time in the Navy. I didn't mind being on a submarine so much. I tell people it was like having one really long bad day when I was out to sea. We didn't get much sleep. We trained all of the time and we drilled a lot. There wasn't much time for fun. You were there to do a job so you did it. While I was in your big brothers' mom left and I became a single father just like I am with you. The difference this time was that I was full time 24/7 with no help from his mom. I got out of the Navy almost a year early because of this. I guess that was one really good thing that came out of that. I also got to spend all of my time with your brother and I am also very grateful for that too.
I was afraid of becoming a father back then. My father was abusive and I did not want to become that kind of person. I was always told that you become your father over time and I was afraid that anger was inside of me somewhere. When your brother's mom confronted me about having a baby I said no for a long time. Almost a year and a half later, we finally had your brother. I was afraid that the anger would take over just like it did with my father. I found out along the way that it is a choice that you make inside of yourself every time something happens. You chose to lash out in anger our you learn to control things inside and reason through them. There will not always be an answer but it is better than beating someone with a belt until they bleed. I was lucky to be a father to you and your brother. I wished things turned out different for both of you. I wished we could have had the perfect family life with a mother and father but we were not dealt that life. I try to make the best decisions that I can for you. I try to show you each day how important you are to me. I miss you on the days where you make bad choices and you end up in your room. I enjoy reading to you just the same way I did with your brother. It made me smile when he asked if I read and sang songs to you like I did with him. I wasn't sure he would remember. So when I found out he did it really brought a smile to my face. I tried my best to be a good loving father to him and I am trying with you too. I don't always make the right choice but know that I make my choices with love.
I love my boys,
Your Loving Dad
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