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Merry Christmas fellas! Remember the long hours and little sleep are worth it.

...Or that's what they tell me 😂

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  • Many of you know my story. Lost a daughter to still birth at 8 months about 6 years ago. Well after 6 years of frustration, disappointment, hundreds of thousands of dollars in doctor bills for IUI, IV

  • closetojumping
    closetojumping

    My 8th grader got into St. John's! The counselor told me about it last night, early, because he was excited to get him. The boy has been diagnosed with autism and is enduring his third straight year i

  • scottsins
    scottsins

    Hi guys! Just posting from our hospital room. Not even sure what day it is, but I’m all up in this thread now, after the arrival of my first and last born spawn at the spry age of 49. Do I get an o

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Santa is new to Xbox/PS gaming and brought an xbox series S (apparently can’t play physical games) and a physical copy of Madden 25 🤦‍♂️ 

On a related note, hit me up with a DM on advice if Santa should exchange the xbox Series S 512gb for 1TB or a Series X. 

Santa is new to Xbox/PS gaming and brought an xbox series S (apparently can’t play physical games) and a physical copy of Madden 25 [emoji2357] 
On a related note, hit me up with a DM on advice if Santa should exchange the xbox Series S 512gb for 1TB or a Series X. 

Get the biggest hard drive you can. Get a stand alone if you need. Games are freaking massive now.
  • Popular Post

Feeling a mix of pride and a bit of heartache tonight. For the first time in 22 years, my oldest daughter (no pics) isn't home for Christmas.

You all might remember Christmas season in 2022, cold/ice everywhere and a lot of electricity outages. As a young family, with no family closer than 3 hours, the three of us were in quite a spot in our apartment with no electricity and no wood for a fireplace we had never used. Our daughter was always small, barely up to 15 pounds in her fifth month(December) on Earth. Living in Great Hills, fprtunately not at the bottom of the hill, only the Randall's was open. I made the slow trek to pick up a cord, which they fortunately still had, slipping and sliding along the way. The wife and baby were huddled up in the living room. We had placed her in the car seat covered in blankets, trying that delicate balance of warming her without overheating. Starting that fire and, with the fire light, looking over my wife and daughter was a relief I had never experienced.

I had, in less than a year, gone from: 1) waking up hungover on the ground in the parking lot of some unnamed New Orleans business during Mardi Gras 2)almost losing the baby and mother that same month 3)to manufacturing warmth for my young family of 3 when they needed me most.

That was a small leap of responsibility for a 22 year old, who largely defined himself a failure. I have been far from perfect but gotten the job done. She accepts my failures and she has always thrived despite them. She has made a black and white world full of color and inspired me to fight the alcoholic demon. She changed my life and I was smart enough to let her.

Long gone are the days of building toys all night while worrying if I got her enough or the right toy. I've never felt enough especially during Christmas, though she has assured me time and time again that I am.

My daughter graduated from college last May and has started her career as a nurse. This Christmas, she's working the night shift, taking care of transplant patients who need her. Though a new nurse, she has already received a number of notes of recognition from her colleagues.

It's a strange feeling not having her here, but I'm incredibly proud of her dedication and the compassionate person she's become. While I miss her presence, knowing she's out there making a difference brings me a lot of comfort.

Sometimes, it's the little things like these that remind us how much our children grow and how proud we are of them. And, maybe, you might know that you were good enough for your children.

To all the nurses, healthcare and essential workers out there, thank you for your dedication and sacrifice. To my amazing daughter, know that you're always in my heart, especially tonight.

Surly, Wishing you and yours a wonderful Christmas!

Anyone have experience with iD Tech camps? They have a few locations in Texas (one at UT), and they look interesting. 

https://www.idtech.com/

 

Edited by CBT

These are weirdly the biggest hit - liquid color floor tiles

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Having a 3D printer is nice, my wife wanted an organizer for all the baby food snacks that were taking over our pantry so I drew one up and printed it!

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On 1/3/2025 at 9:59 AM, Captainant said:

Having a 3D printer is nice, my wife wanted an organizer for all the baby food snacks that were taking over our pantry so I drew one up and printed it!

Well done, Dad.  We have a 3D printer at work, I'm thinking of printing my next pair of shoes.

  • 2 weeks later...

Do you ever start to let on to your wife how much of a degenerate internetist you’ve spent your life being and only just catch yourself?

 

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I suggest you keep that little nugget to yourself in this instance...

3 hours ago, Celery Man said:

Do you ever start to let on to your wife how much of a degenerate internetist you’ve spent your life being and only just catch yourself?

 

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Ah I (goat)see the problem.  Had a similar instance where my eldest made an illustration of the globe with two hands on it, one white and one brown to represent racial unity.  It was really sweet and kind the way she was talking about it.  I sent it to the family and my brother texts me separately "thats just goatse.  thats goatse.  associate it with goatse".  Completely ruined it, and its still taped on her bedroom door.

On 1/21/2025 at 7:23 PM, SurlyGator said:

I suggest you keep that little nugget to yourself in this instance...

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19 hours ago, Captainant said:

I call this "Moments Before Disaster"

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I'm living in this world right now.

  • 2 weeks later...

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after a day of not shutting the fuck up, I finally got her to talk to someone else. Alexa just keeps saying “I don’t know how to help you with that.”

Kids are crazy. You spend the first years teaching them to talk. Then you spend the rest trying to make them be quiet.

2 1/2 year-old booked it out of the store toward a busy strip center parking lot while I was pushing the baby and Mom was otherwise preoccupied. I ran to the exit, pushing the stroller to a stop right at the door and sprinted to grab the kid a few steps from the parking lot. Meltdown then ensued in the car as we left his stickers behind. 

Then, while trying desperately to kill time before the nap, as everyone was beginning to hate each other, we went for a bike ride, which became a bike walk, which became whatever this is. Is it Monday yet?

 

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7 minutes ago, hookem2010 said:

2 1/2 year-old booked it out of the store toward a busy strip center parking lot while I was pushing the baby and Mom was otherwise preoccupied. I ran to the exit, pushing the stroller to a stop right at the door and sprinted to grab the kid a few steps from the parking lot.

Been there.  We parked on a street in Galveston when our younger son was ~ 3 YO, got him out of his booster seat and set him on the sidewalk.  Before I knew it that kid had darted behind the car into traffic, only to be snagged at the last moment by my wife with a game-saving tackle.  I still shudder to think what could have happened if he had gotten by her.

4 hours ago, Celery Man said:

after a day of not shutting the fuck up, I finally got her to talk to someone else. Alexa just keeps saying “I don’t know how to help you with that.”

When my son was about 6 or 7, he was riding in the back seat and would not shut the fuck up about Ninjago. He went on nonstop about characters, storylines, and all that shit, oblivious to the fact that I wasn’t engaging with him. I had music on, and started cracking up the volume full blast hoping he would stop, or at least the music might drown him out a bit, but he just kept talking. I felt a little bad about that, but I just couldn’t take one more goddamn minute of Ninjago,

8 hours ago, Celery Man said:

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after a day of not shutting the fuck up, I finally got her to talk to someone else. Alexa just keeps saying “I don’t know how to help you with that.”

Hey Alexa, I need a new squishmallo . . .

Sometimes it amazes me he’s now a senior VP at a regional banking system and is responsible for overseeing $20 Billion in assets.

 

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9 hours ago, Celery Man said:

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after a day of not shutting the fuck up, I finally got her to talk to someone else. Alexa just keeps saying “I don’t know how to help you with that.”

Just make sure you're within earshot...😲

 

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Helped a buddy chop and load some wood yesterday. Our tiny supervisor barked a lot of orders and directed traffic. 75% of it wasn’t in English, but the job got done.

On 2/2/2025 at 9:45 AM, Jkwellborn said:

Kids are crazy. You spend the first years teaching them to talk. Then you spend the rest trying to make them be quiet.

 

Then when they get to about 12 or 13, you spend the next _____ years (when will it end?) trying to get them to talk to you again. 

 

 

 
Then when they get to about 12 or 13, you spend the next _____ years (when will it end?) trying to get them to talk to you again. 
 
 

I have a 13 year old son. I’m with him all day. I get MAYBE 3 full sentences a day that are outside of school talk. Also, he talks to his chest and has a deep voice and I liked loud music in my younger years so I can’t hear shit.

I have a 13 year old son. I’m with him all day. I get MAYBE 3 full sentences a day that are outside of school talk. Also, he talks to his chest and has a deep voice and I liked loud music in my younger years so I can’t hear shit.

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Buzz Jr had his first high school game tonight. Scored two runs. Check out this comeback:

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Definitely poured a glass of good stuff when we got home. 

Trying to get my son to play baseball this year. I’m not gonna make him, because I think that’s bullshit, but I wish he would. He enjoys it and I enjoy helping Coach him. He’s 10 and this would be his 3rd year. Doesn’t want to play because we had a couple of shit coaches last season. Oh well.

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That’s her grandpa’s old ISU hat circa ‘77 or so. Shrunk to toddler size after decades of washing and drying.

43 minutes ago, Jkwellborn said:

Trying to get my son to play baseball this year. I’m not gonna make him, because I think that’s bullshit, but I wish he would. He enjoys it and I enjoy helping Coach him. He’s 10 and this would be his 3rd year. Doesn’t want to play because we had a couple of shit coaches last season. Oh well.

Ugh that sucks man. But good on you for not forcing it. Can you get some of his buddies to play?

This is my last season as head coach of my soccer team. I’ve already had three kids tell me they are moving on to a new club next season because they don’t like the other coaches. My guys are U14 rec soccer and these other coaches treat them like they are Division 1 college. It’s not fun for the kids.

2 minutes ago, Goofyboy said:

This is my last season as head coach of my soccer team. I’ve already had three kids tell me they are moving on to a new club next season because they don’t like the other coaches. My guys are U14 rec soccer and these other coaches treat them like they are Division 1 college. It’s not fun for the kids.

Yeah, that sucks when it's rec level.  My kid jumped up several levels over the years because HE wanted to.  I made him tell his coaches every time, and they all understood.  To a man (and one woman) they were fantastic people who pushed the kids appropriately.

  • 2 weeks later...
On 2/15/2025 at 11:00 AM, Goofyboy said:

This is my last season as head coach of my soccer team. I’ve already had three kids tell me they are moving on to a new club next season because they don’t like the other coaches. My guys are U14 rec soccer and these other coaches treat them like they are Division 1 college. It’s not fun for the kids.

I coached my kid's teams in football and baseball for years. I was involved as a coach up until 13U starting from tee-ball. I consider it the golden age of my life.

5 hours ago, F250 said:

I consider it the golden age of my life.

Your posts on the sugar daddy thread say otherwise.

  • Author

Bittersweet time at the Big D household.
We were informed by Lil D that we are no longer Mommy and Daddy.  We are now Mom and Dad.  
Broke Mrs D's heart.  and I admit, it made me sad as well, as much as I am ready for him to grow and mature, I do miss the little fucker that had no attitude and was fun as hell to be around.  Now it seems the only time he wants to interact with me at all is when we are fishing and little league.  At least he's got a couple more years of baseball left.  

I'm in awe of yall coaching. I help with scouts, but that's really just me pitching in and doing my part for the troop. Son doesn't really interact with me at campouts. I guess indepence is sort of the whole deal with scouts. 

But the real secret sauce to youth sports is not the exercise or teamwork. It is those weekly drives to practices and games when a kid actually talks to you. I'm not sure what it is about a vehicle in motion, but it loosens lips. 

3 minutes ago, CleverNickname said:

But the real secret sauce to youth sports is not the exercise or teamwork. It is those weekly drives to practices and games when a kid actually talks to you.

Yeah, I got a lot of dad work in driving my kid all over Texas and Oklahoma for soccer, not to mention to and from multiple practices each week.

12 minutes ago, CleverNickname said:

I'm in awe of yall coaching. I help with scouts, but that's really just me pitching in and doing my part for the troop. Son doesn't really interact with me at campouts. I guess indepence is sort of the whole deal with scouts. 

But the real secret sauce to youth sports is not the exercise or teamwork. It is those weekly drives to practices and games when a kid actually talks to you. I'm not sure what it is about a vehicle in motion, but it loosens lips. 

Thinking back to my late dad, the memories that jump to my mind are the smell of fresh cut grass on an autumn afternoon and going to sonic after soccer practice for a brown bag special. You're right on the money that it's the time around the sports that I remember more than the sports 

58 minutes ago, CleverNickname said:

It is those weekly drives to practices and games when a kid actually talks to you. I'm not sure what it is about a vehicle in motion, but it loosens lips

100 percent. 

I think it's a combination of (1) it not being a interrogation session, like walking into their room to question them about something or come out we need to talk about this or that; (2) casual conversation leads to more; and (3) not being face-to-face requiring eye contact like sitting across the dinner table. 

I actually shead a tear when my daughters started driving themselves to practice. 

Kids do equally as cool stuff when they grow up. You just have to change your mindset a little bit. It’s still all good.

So, continuing to deal with adult kids.  Right now, we have the boy home -- he's almost 22, going to do his Sr. year of university next year.  He's home for his grandfather's memorial, and the gravity of the situation, the passing of generations, his coming adulthood...it's all connecting with him.  We had some time to talk about what he wants to do when he graduates.  He said that he knows that, to be truly marketable, he'll need a graduate degree of some sort.  But he also wants to dedicate some real time to "service," and experiencing the real world NOT as a student.  He's talked about trying to get on with some international development work, that sort of thing ( @InkaUtexas), but he is also looking at spending some time as....a firefighter.  He said "I know y'all are a 'no' no military service....and under the current regime, I am too, but I feel like I need to serve now, while I'm young."  So, he may stay in the UK, activate his post-uni visa, and be....a firefighter.

Is that a good thing (long term), or a waste of time?  I have no idea.  He talked about the fact that his career will likely take him to a place/world where he's wearing a suit, and managing projects/strategies somehow.  And he feels that having some real "boots on the ground" real world experience and perspective before he does so will serve him well -- I don't know.  But I know that his heart....is the size of the fucking moon.  And he so wants to help people, and that will lead him some places that we don't even know about.; he's already thinking ahead to what may be needed in Ukraine if/when the war ends, and he already has something of a network and connections there, so who knows.  It's a bit awe-inspiring to watch these young folks develop into adults who actually do and mean something to the world around them.  I am proud of him, but I can't take credit or ownership for a damned thing.  He is his own man.  And he's a good man, who cares.  I feel a little shamed in comparison, honestly.

My 18 yo daughter routinely (but not always) shows a level of maturity that still shames me at 56.

2 minutes ago, tbone_ said:

My 18 yo daughter routinely (but not always) shows a level of maturity that still shames me at 56.

Well, in fairness, she's female, and you're male.  Which means that you will always have the maturity of an 11 year old boy.

14 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

So, he may stay in the UK, activate his post-uni visa, and be....a firefighter.

Does he know any firefighters?  Half our family on the wife's side are in or retired FF's.  They see some gnarly shit.  It's not for everyone.  One friend of the family saw his first family disaster involving fatalities and that was it.  He was done.  For many it's a calling, so I might have the candid conversation about whether this is you scratching the itch to serve, or is this something you can see yourself doing for an extended period of time.  It's also very competitive.  More and more are leaning this route vs LEO or military, so check up on who you are competing against.  

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