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So, this summer in addition to all that other stuff I mentioned in that other post, I’m also playing Daddy Day Care for Morgan and Ian.  The time I’m getting to spend with them is absolutely priceless.  It’s also allowing me one other opportunity:  cooking.

That’s right.  I’m turning into Betty Freakin’ Crocker.  Have you seen Once Upon a Time in Mexico?  No, really; there’s a connection.  Hang with me.  If you haven’t seen it, go out and rent the DVD.  I’ll wait.

There is a feature on it where director Robert Rodriguez takes you into his kitchen and, in 10 minutes, provides you with a recipe and shows you how to cook it.  One of the pieces of advice he gives (at no additional cost) is to come up with 5 or 6 dishes that you really love and learn how to cook them - really well.  Then, create a menu for yourself and keep it handy.  When you have friends over, you can have them choose what they would like to eat and you can impress them with your ability to cook it!

So, since I’m playing the part of stay-at-home-dad, I decided, I would take full advantage of it and teach myself how to cook for Bekah and the kids.

Yesterday, Bekah and I had a huge lunch so I went with something light for dinner.  I prepared a simple pasta salad and a Yogurt Crunch desert.  Not to toot my own horn, but both were a hit.  Still, I figured, a simple pasta salad wasn’t all that impressive…

So, tonight, when Bekah walks in the door in a few minutes, she’s going to be treated to stuffed green peppers.   I’m getting more and more adventurous with my dishes and I’m going to track my successes (and failures) here.  Stay tuned for updates!

For those of you who already knew this will be old news (sorry): My grandfather is doing much better. He was in the hospital for nearly 10 days last week and they weren’t really sure what was wrong with him…except for the fact that he had the flu which deteriorated into pneumonia. All of that in addition to his weakened heart and diabetes. The doctors weren’t giving him much of a chance, but I don’t think they took into consideration his underlying strength. He fought it back enough to get himself back to his own home.

Bekah and I went to see him last weekend and I was scared by what I saw. His color was just not right and it took him a few minutes to recognize me. On one hand, I do worry about him and yet, on the other hand, he is a Marine. He survived Guadalcanal during WWII for crying out loud! He was talking about how he was going to write another book about hospitals and how much he hated them! He never let his sense of humor leave him. He was obviously in pain yet, his primary goal was to make sure that those around him were in good spirits and had a smile on their faces.

He is the strongest man I know. I don’t think he will ever know exactly how much he means to me. If I can grow up to be half the man he is, I will consider myself a very lucky man. He is my inspiration and my role model. I love him so very much. And I almost couldn’t handle the fact that he was spouting parental advice to me (as though he’d never see me again) as we were leaving his hospital room. I just kept telling him that I’d see him at his house very soon.

He’s back at home now and is doing better. He’s still very weak, but at least he’s not stuck in a hospital anymore. For that, I’m thankful.

Incidentally, his book From Guadalcanal to Tokyo is available. E-mail me for more information on how to order a copy.

In other website news, I’ve finally gotten my performance resume and curriculum vitae online. You can find them in the list of links to the right. For now, the CV is only in .pdf format (you’ll need to have Acrobat Reader to see them), but I am working on the webview version.