Just got off talking on the phone for 20 minutes with my mother. She said that she tries to keep Shawn aware that he has an Uncle Brad by pointing to my picture and telling him that it is me. Hopefully when he sees me I won’t be a total stranger then. It is neat that she does that. It is also kind of sad that she has to.

I really enjoyed seeing Dylan as much as I was able to in Columbus. To Dylan it seems that the world revolves around Uncle Brad. “Is that bigger than Uncle Brad?”, “Don’t feel afraid, Ben, because Uncle Brad is big and will protect us.”. The highlight of his Thanksgiving trip was going down the basement with me to make “things” at my work bench. This involves cutting, drilling, and gluing various pieces of scrap wood together. I am so cool.

I think the secret is that I still think simple every day things are just as fascinating as he does. We spent 10 minutes watching the ice tea maker make a pot of tea. We just talked about what it was doing. Talking about why the ice made the cracking sound. How the cold water turned into hot water and shot out of the top. I also think I am just a big kid, and like toys just as much as they do. Kids can sense that. I also don’t talk down to kids or talk baby talk.

I am looking forward to seeing Shawn in two weeks. It sounds like he is old enough now to interact with me and pal around. I hope we can hang out and do guy things like Dylan and I did when he was two.

Mom said that her and Dad said that they wouldn’t have anything to write about if they started an on-line journal. Like I have anything that is earth shaking and extremely fascinating? I just write about stuff that occupies my mind, which is just every day ordinary things, and apparently people find that interesting enough to stop by and read every day. I average about 14 visits per day, and the average visit is a little over 9.5 minutes.

We talked about any kind of food I wanted while visiting. She mentioned that Tim had talked about doing a standing rib roast. I am all for that. I also suggested Yorkshire pudding. Yum. I am getting hungry just thinking about it.

It just struck me that I don’t know how my side of the family likes their beef cooked. When I first started going out with Sheri she would get everything well done. I have her down to medium on hamburgers, and medium-rare on steaks. I am about the same, but I can also go done to rare on steak. Filet mignon I would defiantly order rare. My favorite cut is the strip steak. I could go lower on hamburgers, but that is more of an e-coli issue than preference. Also, hamburgers less than medium are messy to eat. They drip too much and make the bun soggy.