Sunday, June 29, 2008

Dadhood and Breaks

Hello everyone and welcome back. Hope everyone had a great spring and finished it strong and did well. I also hope everyone is having a great 2 and a half week vacation for those who are going to take summer classes. As we begin to enter the summer class semester a lot of new things have been done to the Berkeley College Blackboard page. Currently it has been updated to reflect the summer classes so check often to see if your professors have posted any syllabus on the website. The mail system has also been revamped and is no longer Netmail but Microsoft Live. Go on to your email and log in using your firstname-lastname@mymail.berkeleycollege.edu as your user name. Your password is 00 and the last 4 digits of your social, example 001234. Log in and change your password as soon as you can and take some time to look around and explore the features. If you have use Outlook at work then you are pretty much familiar with the mailbox and the options there.

On to other things as we wrap up the month of June I would like to look back at Father's Day. Father's day is a day where we recognize all the father's in the world and celebrate their contributions. My question is what about having a Dad's day. Many people would think aren't they the same thing? In actuality is that they are two different things. All dad's are father's but not all father's are dads. Anyone can father a child, in other words bring them into this world and pretty much do no more. A dad is someone that is always there in the trenches. That doesn't let the misses do all the work. A dad is someone that reads and takes care of their children in more ways than just financially. I think I cover what being a dad is in a poem i wrote just before Father's day.

A Fathers Musings: Dadhood


Here we go again,
Pardon me as I dust off my pen.
There nice and clean as the first day I saw her,
The one who changed my life forever,
The one who I am proud to call my daughter.
There are no words or expressions that can prepare anyone for fatherhood,
It is something that will never be fully understood.
The universal question is what makes a father?
Is it someone who flutters like the leaves in the wind, never settling, always moving on & leaving loved ones behind?
Is it someone who is a servant always giving but never demanding the love or respect he is owed?
Is it someone who always is cool but doesn’t really care? All he cares about is what is cool and that discipline isn’t.
No, it is the Zen Master, the man that finds the perfect balance between love and discipline. The man that does what is just despite criticism.
What makes a dad?
Dad is a word that we use interchangeably with father but it means something different.
“Anyone can be a father but it takes someone special to be a dad!”
So in essence shouldn’t there be Dadhood as well?
A league of extraordinary men that go above and beyond the call of duty.
Men who do not shy or shirk responsibility but tackles it head on.
Men whose family is #1 after God.
Men who sing, play, clean, dress, kiss, caress, bathe, brush and overall act a fool for their kids.
Children are a guarantee for happiness,
Because to truly love your children it is a requirement.
So stand up men and join the league of men who know they are far from perfect but still willing to learn.
Let the world know that men can lead and men can be just as good as women with kids.
Let’s welcome all those who accept the challenge into Dadhood!
Buckle up and enjoy the ride!

Cursed Angel
06/12/08

So i would like to shout out all the Dads that are out their working 24/7 to make sure their children get the best they can.

Now it is time for Rebecca's corner. My little one has been busy learning to run. She now knows how to go up the stairs on the stoop and also knows how to climb up the stairs to grandma's house. She continues to explore and learn what she can and cannot do. She has gotten into a hitting frenzy when she gets tired which we are trying to put an end to. Anyway that is all for this post. See either when my son is born which may be this week or when classes begin.

Monday, June 16, 2008

A long time comming

Hello everyone and welcome back. It has been over month i have published anything and believe me it was one of the roughest months ever. I do want to apologize to all my readers and i hope to be able to post on a more consistent basis. A lot has occurred in my life academically and personally but lets start with academics first.

As we all know class come to a close this week, a week earlier than scheduled do to the moving of offices in the annex to a new location. I spoke to a couple of staff in the annex about the new location and all of them were in agreement that it is a better location for them. So with one week less of classes a lot of projects and finals were pushed up, much to the disdain of students. I had a lot of projects to do and very little time to do them which is part of the reason i haven't posted in a month. In Web Design 1 our project was due the first Saturday in June and when i found out about the shortened semester it only left me a week to put together a whole website. Lucky for me i was able to do it and in the end of it all i got an A on the project and an A for the class so that is one down 4 to go.

In Oral communications i had to do a final speech, which was supposed to be a demonstration speech. It was a speech that we had to demonstrate something whether it was preparing a certain dish or how to do something like tie a tie. My speech was on Reiki which is a Japanese form of healing using hands. Unfortunately for me i had to shorten my speech as i received a phone call on my way to school that my wife was taken to the Hospital with contractions. Luckily it was false labor but they kept her overnight for observation. Both her and the baby are doing fine but he seems unwilling to make his entrance into the world yet.

In Graphical business presentation we had a finally project due that took me all of 45 minutes to complete. Out of all my classes that was the easiest i had this semester which was good because i needed a break from time to time. In mind and body we had a lot of fun going to different locations this semester. I may want to take it again for the heck of it with the same professor. The final weeks had us singing in class and learning about chiropractics. Tomorrow will be our grand wrap up session including door prizes for the class. Knowing the professor everyone will go home with something tomorrow guaranteed.

That pretty much wraps up the semester and personally it has been hard. Between the Braxton Hicks contractions that my wife has been having and having my sister staying with me it was stressful to say the least. All the nonsense that went on in my house caused me to fall behind a bit in class but i caught up nicely. There were times i was contemplating just going to a hotel or something just so i have enough time to work and rest. Definitely this summer i will try and get to the library as often as i can in order to be able to do my work in some quiet. This is important because next semester i am taking Psychology, Macroeconomics, Web Design 2 and Advance Spreadsheets.

Now it is time for Rebecca's corner. The little speed demon turned one during my one month reprieve. She is getting bigger and smarter everyday and she made me a beautiful picture for fathers day. I may have the next Picasso on my hands. I think she cannot wait until her baby brother is here. Anyway that is all for now and i will write soon.