I'm Jerry Harrington

Two Laptops: One Computer, One Cat

Jerry — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 15:58:27 +0000

Doing a little work on the couch I found myself with two sources of warmth for my legs.

Walking By Ducks

Jerry — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 02:30:00 +0000

Throughout the school year I occasionally teach Community Education classes at the local high school helping folk learn how to use things like iPhones, iPads, and Facebook. And a couple of times now I've been hired to make housecalls to assist and tutor. Today it was a beautiful day and so I walked the 2.2 miles from my house to my client's and discovered a large paddling of ducks hanging out in a lake on the way.

Final Confirmation Class

Jerry — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 03:27:00 +0000

For a year and a half I've been walking with this group of kids getting ready for confirmation. They were confirmed a couple weeks ago and so tonight we had a pizza party celebrating.

Family Dinner

Jerry — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 05:40:00 +0000

As you can see, the kids really punish my wife when she's in the middle of a shift cycle. ;)

Meeting Under the Butterflies

Jerry — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 04:24:00 +0000

Being a freelance speaker who's a stay at home dad leads to some interesting days. For instance, today I met with a colleague for whom I'm doing some speaking at our local mall's toddler play area so the kids could run around and enjoy themselves while we talked business. Getting to do business under a skylight full of huge colorful butterflies is good business if you ask me!

Weekly Toddler Playtime

Jerry — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 05:41:00 +0000

Every first and third Thursday of the month our parish has a Mothers with Young Children meeting at which the mom's little ones hang with babysitters while they socialize and listen to a guest speaker. Since I'd be at home with my 2 year old anyway I signed up to be a sitter so I get guitar lesson money and my daughter gets to play with lots of other toddlers. Win win!

Dinner Out

Jerry — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 04:35:00 +0000

A crappy picture (sorry love!) from a wonderful evening: family dinner out. While my wife stayed at the table to finish the bill I took the kids out to the van but they all wanted to wave at Mama through the window.

Tired

Jerry — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 02:12:00 +0000

I didn't get home until 10:30pm today as I was teaching an iPad class a half hour from home. And that was after a fairly nonstop day that started early. Needing good sleep. Due to teaching, my wife and I will be doing Valentines tomorrow night.

HappyLight Premiere

Jerry — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 04:17:00 +0000

The obnoxious glare on my face in this picture is coming from the impressively bright HappyLight shining on my face while sitting on the Surf Shelf on the front of my treadmill. Tonight's just ten minutes as a 'pre-test' to make sure I don't have any adverse reactions. Tomorrow we start in on longer sessions.

Bedtime Brushing

Jerry — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 03:13:00 +0000

Pretty self-explanatory.

A Cold Walk

Jerry — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 00:05:29 +0000

Today I'm proud of this shot not only because I captured the sunset over my shoulder but also because I was out to capture it at all! We visited my mother-in-law's house where I've historically not done very well nutritionally (too many temptations!). Today I went with my intention to stay strong firmly in place. I succeeded in eating only 2 slices of pizza and 2 breadsticks as I'd calorie budgeted and then went on a walk with my older kids and my sister-in-law's dog.

Basement Retreat Enthusiasm

Jerry — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 17:35:00 +0000

Today I had the pleasure of leading a Confirmation retreat for nearly 70 seventh graders. During a break, I asked one of the kids to take a picture of me for this project; next thing I know this happened! Too bad they clearly weren't enjoying the retreat.

More Whoa!

Jerry — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 17:33:00 +0000

My two year old has really taken to the expression "whoa!" She says it anytime something she finds the least bit exciting happens. Today we played the game in which she walks halfway across the house, looks back carefully to make sure you're crouched down ready to receive her, and starts running hard little arms churning, until she gets to you expecting to be picked up and swung with her own momentum under your legs and then back up high in the air. I tend to then keep it going so she lands on my shoulder upside-down. You can see from today's post how much she really hates that. She says "whoa!" on the way up and as soon as the movement stops says "more whoa, more whoa." Which has led to the development of some new family vernacular like "whoa done" and "whoa break."

Whew... Busy Day

Jerry — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 17:31:00 +0000

Today's "Did List":
- fed 3 kids breakfast
- took my four year old to preschool
- picked up some groceries for dinner
- transferred a VHS video to my computer
- fed 2 kids lunch
- added that file to others prepared & created a DVD
- created a DVD label
- oversaw math homework with my first grader
- burned the DVDs prepared earlier in the day
- made 5 phone calls congratulating early admits to my undergraduate alma mater
- cleaned up dining room and kitchen
- cooked dinner for the family
- helped put 3 kids to bed
- did the dishes, cleaned the kitchen/dining room
- walked on the treadmill
- took this picture, uploaded it, and wrote this!
- going to bed satisfied I had a rich full nonstop day

Treadmill Defiance of Depression

Jerry — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 17:28:00 +0000

The winter grey blahs are back. I will not succumb. Jogged 30 straight minutes - more than I have in a long time. I will get back into and stay in the 200s and feel good about myself. I will come out of this winter healthier and stronger than I went into it.

Minimal Monday

Jerry — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 03:00:23 +0000

I did not feel like doing anything today. I didn't want to be a parent today. I didn't want to eat right today. I didn't want to cook or clean up today. I didn't want to do homework with my first grader.

But I did all those things, at least to the minimal degree. So now I'm watching a blu-ray.

Spending Super Bowl Sunday

Jerry — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 01:00:55 +0000

Yeah, I'm one of these guys. Unless I have people to watch with or happen to live in a town for whom one of the teams play, I just don't care. And I used to watch for the commercials, but they've all either been online for a while already or will be tomorrow. After a calorically responsible dinner and getting the kids to bed, I'm currently enjoying quiet and the prospect of good rest tonight.

Plum Romantic Surprise Date Night

Jerry — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 04:59:42 +0000

Since my wife's work schedule has been hellacious lately, I planned a surprise theme date night. We're both big fans of the Janet Evanovich book series featuring the character Stephanie Plum; so when I saw a Groupon for two tickets to the movie adaptation of the first book, I jumped on it and built a night around it. We drove over an hour into Wisconsin to a place called Pino's Pizza, the featured pizza place in the books. We then returned to our movie theater for the film. Handcuffs were also involved (the books & movie are about being a bounty hunter, dirty minds). It was great pizza, a fun flick (especially for fans of the books), good needed conversation, and a happily surprised wife. All told, success.

Strong Grocery Kung Fu

Jerry — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 03:27:45 +0000

Stand in awe fellow parents, for I completed an empty-kitchen-to-be-filled grocery order, overflowing my cart while accompanied by my two and four year old daughters in a mere 35 minutes! My four year old complained she didn't want to walk so fast and I actually broke a sweat doing the bagging myself. Having fallen behind in the day's schedule this feat allowed me to get my four year old to her playdate only a little late.

Joys of Parenthood (1)

Jerry — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 14:35:48 +0000

I prepared a haiku to go with this earliest yet post:

Two year old teething
Yes, that time is accurate
Medicine cup used

Big Top on the Big Screen

Jerry — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 02:55:42 +0000

A good day today! My four year old daughter had her preschool circus, so of course I got my geek on. Click through to read the whole story and get a glimpse of our second clown (she followed in her big brother's footsteps to be a clown).

Smiling Through Shadows

Jerry — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 22:16:23 +0000

I'm rather embarrassed that it took the last day of my first full month for me to realize that my wife hasn't shown up in any of these pictures! And yet, there's a logic to it since she's always been the sort to support from the background. Today I continued to battle SAD, this morning by taking advantage of some unseasonably warm weather (a downright tropical mid-40's) by going on a nice walk around our neighborhood. We took a couple of pics but I decided to use this one because I like the symbolism: when I'm with my wife I can smile through the shadows and know that it will be all right.

Toddler Comfort

Jerry — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 04:31:57 +0000

I spent most of today struggling mightily with my seasonal depression. While reading on the couch after lunch, my nearly two year old crawled up next to me and just snuggled against me for something like 10 minutes. She had nothing to do, nothing to watch; she just leaned against me. It was needed, precious, and appreciated.

Confirmation Class DVD

Jerry — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 04:13:59 +0000

Had a great day! Click through to read all about it.

I Hate Winter

Jerry — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 20:40:57 +0000

Title pretty much sums it up.

Dancing with My Princess

Jerry — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 01:25:42 +0000

When your four year old daughter, complete with her Snow White dress and heels, walks up to you and says "Daddy, will you be my prince?" what hard hearted idiot would say anything other than "Of course, princess." Playing her personalized Disney princess album through the Apple TV, we spent the next 20 minutes circling, twirling, and dipping. Does a dad's heart good.

Tough Day

Jerry — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 22:00:53 +0000

Coffee Shop Homework

Jerry — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 23:00:32 +0000

Every Wednesday I get to attend my first grade son's immersion Spanish language class after school (parent helper for a biggish group with a couple of discipline challenges). Today after that we came over to our 'downtown' Starbucks to do his homework before going to pick up pizza for dinner. After a shared lemonade, we got down to his math handout, spelling practice, and reading. He said "I like this; being just you and me." Perhaps a tradition is being born!

Parenting Privilege

Jerry — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 03:24:27 +0000

Today I got to try and teach my nearly two year old how to better drink from a water fountain. Pretty hilarious to be stooped over her saying things like "use just your lips" and "like kissing." After my best efforts, we then took a trip to the men's room where I put her under the hands dryer for the soaking the front of her shirt took!

Winter Shopping

Jerry — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 05:02:15 +0000

So today I took some birthday presents that didn't fit back to JC Penny and with the credit acquired some new gloves and the sweet chapeau. I actually put it on as a joke and then fell for the wonderful warm of faux fur on my ears and around the back of my neck. And bonus: little pockets on the ear flaps! Don't know what I'm gonna put in there, but I'll figure something out.