My Birthday... Starring Legos

What do you know, little Johnny is growing up.

It's true, today happens to be my 39th Birthday. Thank you.  I was just talking with my older brother in law the other day, and neither of us feel as old as we are. Now granted he is MUCH MUCH older than me (sorry Don), but I have to say that aside from a few things that pop up here and there, I really don't feel that much different than when I was 25.  Sure there are a few pounds added on and my head seems to be growing at a faster rate than the rest of my body, but all in all life at 39 is not that bad.  I'm thankful that I have the group of friends that I do, both in real life and online (my wife considers anyone that I have met online to be this fictitious group that doesn't really exist.)  Most of all I'm thankful for my family, they are most likely the ones that are keeping me young, and sending me to an early grave at the same time.

Happy 39th birthday to me.  

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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Wednesday's Window

Continuing on our most recent road trip we bring you to Quebec City.  We have traveled to Europe in the past, and we had heard that Quebec is the closet thing you can find like it in North America.  Everything that we heard was right; from the cobblestone streets, to the centuries old architecture the city did not disappoint.  The hotel that we stayed at is one of the most photographed hotels in the world.  In fact its the model for the Canada exhibit at Epcot in Disney World.  Who knew? I guess my wife did as she did all the planning and wanted to make that our destination. It's a beautiful place and one that I would highly recommend.  I hope you enjoy this weeks Wednesday's Window.

Le Chateau Frontenac

View of the city from The Citadel

Changing of the guards at the Citadel

We couldn't make the guard laugh... bummer.

One of the charming streets in the old section of town

I just love the colorful windows

High on the hill is the hotel, while we are down low.

Quebec is split into two cities really.  Up on the hill is the newer portion and the lower level is considered the much older section.  The lower level is littered with souvenir shops, but that does not take away the charm at all.

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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Dear Soccer Dad

Dear Soccer Dad,

I hope you are enjoying seeing little Billy run around the field with his little soccer ball.  I noticed one thing though, you seem to have a lot to say, whether it's to me, the other parents, or the coaches. I kindly request that you shut your trap.

We don't care how good you think your son is going to be, or that you were once a soccer player in high school, it simply does not matter when your son is five.  HE IS FIVE YEARS OLD!  Come to terms with that and stop telling us that he is the reincarnation of Pele.  There is a very good chance that he is not going to be, simply because he is going to hate you and your big mouth and probably quit playing soccer altogether.

This is not the English Premier League

I don't want to hear how bad of a job the coaches are doing.  This is a rec league with volunteer coaches.  Many of them are only coaching because they didn't want to pay the work bond, and they wanted to spend a little more time with their kid.  They are not paid professionals!  If you have such a problem with them, why did you not step up and be a coach yourself? Probably because you could not handle it and you would spend the entire practice yelling at the kids, something you seem to have no problem doing on the sidelines.

I get the fact that you played soccer in high school and were All County your senior year. That was 20 years ago!  You are now pushing 40 and carrying around an extra 40 pounds.  You are an overweight loser.  Please stop! These are kids out here and what you did back then has no bearing on what little Billy is doing now.  He is trying, but chances are he will never be good enough for you.

I don't want to see you yelling at the refs either.  They are HIGH SCHOOL KIDS!  None of them has ever officiated in a World Cup and I don't even know if they get paid.  Sure the kid was probably offsides, but since this is a REC LEAGUE where scores aren't even kept and there is no goalie, I think we should probably let it slide.  Perhaps when he gets to be as good as you were, we'll start worrying about those sort of things.

In conclusion, let me remind you that there is no negative yelling allowed at the field. No calling the coaches a bad word, no saying how much another kid sucks, and no berating these poor high school kids that have to deal with stupid parents like yourself.

THIS IS REC FREAKING SOCCER. Let them have fun!

Sincerely,

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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Wednesday's Window

I figured that I would finally get around to sharing some of my favorite photos from our recent road trip to Canada.  We had reservations going in that it was going to be TOO MUCH driving and that we would not be able see as much as we wanted.  We were wrong.  We had no idea just how much there was to see along the way.  With stops on the way up through New Hampshire and on the way back in Maine, it seemed as though around every bend was a more amazing sight than the last.  We of course stopped at the site of The Willey House in the White Mountains which I documented before. Who knew that New Hampshire was such a beautiful place?  I hope you enjoy this weeks Wednesday's Window.

Lake Winnipesaukee

Diana's Bath, North Conway

Carter loves climbing this like this

Cathedral Ledge, North Conway

Base of Mt. Washington

We drove up, but there is a train you can take

At the summit

Looking off to the White Mountains

The boys made it! We get our bumper sticker!

Next week we take you to the french speaking city of Quebec City, Canada.

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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I'm a Better Blogger Than A. J. Gill is a Singer

What on Earth could I possibly have in common with A.J. Gill?

I guess a better question would be, who the hell is A. J. Gill?  Well, if you are a huge American Idol fan, like myself, you would obviously know him as the eighth place finisher in the the shows inaugural season. Most people remember Kelly Clarkson belting out "A Moment Like This" as confetti rained down after she was declared the winner.  What I take from that show is all the people that lost, mostly A.J. Gill.

Why would I care about him?

I am an eighth place finisher too.

I had aspirations like him to be the best.  I never enter into anything that I don't think I can win.  It's partially why I would never enter a marathon.  I mean I could run my ass off and still finish a full day behind the winner. What's the point in that?  So when I had the opportunity last year to audition for a new competition named Blogger Idol, I jumped right in.  How hard could it be? You write, get critiqued, you advance.

And that's what happened.

Only I didn't advance as far as I thought I would.  I ran into a bunch of Kelly Clarksons and Justin Guarinis, hell maybe I was the Sanjaya Malakar of the competition and they only had me in it to make fun of me. Hmm.

I lost.

But that's not what I took out of the competition.  It would have been nice to win, even though I still am not quite sure what the winner got, but I was OK with that.  This dad with a bizarre obsession over Legos was clearly a storyteller.  I never thought of myself as such before, but Blogger Idol made me think otherwise.

If you want the chance to be the NEXT BLOGGER IDOL I urge you to try out before Monday September 17th at Midnight. What have you got to lose?  Yours truly will be a judge in the competition; I guess it pays to come in eighth place sometimes.  You can follow Blogger Idol on Facebook or Twitter for more information.

Hopefully A.J. Gill is plugging along somewhere out there, because I'm not stopping what I do anytime soon.

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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The New Enemy... Starring Legos

My house is overrun with Legos, but you probably already knew that.  It's my kids favorite toy and I have to say, I love them too.  It's something that we can do together, or at the very least it's something that I can yell at them to clean up.  They have always been at the top of my kids list, but it seems something else is starting to creep in, Pokemon.  I'm not happy about this because I know how my kids get.  Along comes a new toy and they forget about all of their favorite things. It happened with all of their Cars toys, their Toy Story stuff, and even their Star Wars Galactic Heroes.  They better not forget about our favorite little plastic people.

Hopefully that will do the trick!

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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Picking Sides

I fear for my kids futures, I really do.

I'm reminded every four years about the problems we face in this country. The problems we face being politicians that seemingly never actually do anything. Politicians that constantly bicker and blame each other over the failures in this country.  The only thing in the way of making where we live better than it is today, is the elected officials we put into office to help guide us there.

I don't know who to vote for, I really don't.

We have one flag, not two

I don't know who I would tell my kids to vote for, because the only issues they seem to care about are Pokemon and Legos.  It's a pretty simple life, one that we all stray from far too often.  We as parents need to look at the big picture and make sure we are leaving this world in a better place for our kids.  Sadly I am not so sure that we are.

Why do we have to pick sides in this whole thing?

If I am for lowering taxes, I am considered a Republican.  However, if I also told you that I was pro choice that makes me a Democrat? How the hell am I supposed to make a decision based on the two parties involved? Honestly I am not a huge fan of either.  Each tries to dangle half truths in front of us and we are supposed to try and figure out who is telling the least amount of lies. They try and persuade us by spending millions and millions of dollars, often times whoever has the most money wins.

It shouldn't be that way.

I don't think that the Founding Fathers had this in mind when they set this whole thing up.  It was based on compromise, not partisanship.  Isn't that why we have two houses of Congress in the first place? The sad thing is that it has split this country in two.  Either you are lumped in with the right wing religious fanatics (not my choice of words) or you are a devout socialist.  There is no in between because we are not given that choice.  I would argue that more people lie somewhere in the middle, but for some stupid reason we have to pick sides.

What side would I tell my kids to pick?  Pick Legos over Pokemon any day of the week.

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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