With Christmas season right around the corner, the fear starts to creep in.  Do you have those people in your life that are just hard to shop for?  No matter what you get them, they just kind of shrug it off and say, "eh, thanks."  I hate that!  I'm not a naturallly good gift giver anyway.  So, when I put some time and effort into shopping for someone, I always hope that they like my gift.  Maybe, I'm just being optimistic, but I always want my gift receivers to like my gift.  I have found this especially hard with giving gifts to soldiers.  It shouldn't be as complicated as something like tivoli storage management.  I mean, I can at least spend 30 years at IBM and figure out the kind of of a storage system.  But figuring out gifts for a soldier can be a daunting task!  I've tried a bit of everything in the past - food, clothes, cologne, weapons (good choice), movies, and books.  The hard thing to think about is that they are always on the go and can't carry much with them.  So, you need to think small.  Once, I went to a Marine wedding, and I noticed the bride and groom got each other Marine Corps wedding rings.  In my quest to give a good gift to a soldier, this was an enlightenment moment.  Rings are a great gift because they are so durable and portable.  They are lightweight, but also excellent for a soldier to know you care because they see them every day.  If you want to personalize the gift, there are many options to do that as well, even for every branch of the miltary.  So, if you want my advice, I think a ring for a soldier, or veteran for that matter, makes an excellent gift. 

Well, it's been a few months since I have written a post, but I'd love to get back in the habit.  I don't think you can blame me too much.  I have a son!  Through all of the pregnancy and now taking care of him and mom, it's been just a little bit of work.  Sleep is at a premium right now, but I wouldn't trade it for the world.  My boy is 3 weeks old right now, and we are working on getting him to gain weight.  We've been so thankful for all of the love, service and gifts from friends and family.  We've had meals lined up from our church, which has been a huge blessing.  We've received cards and phone message and all kinds of baby items.  I love the personalized baby blankets that came from this site.  We were able to pick one out with a satin trim, and we chose this pastel blue one here.  We also have more outfits than the little boy can wear.  We've had to tell grandma to slow down.  Otherwise, we'll just be returning all of the gifts. 

The delivery itself was a crazy, crazy day.  My wife's water breaking was the first thing that happened.  We were hoping to labor for several hours at home, but that was just not the case.  The midwife told us to come in and for the next 33 hours, we were in the hospital.  It's bad enough being in hospitals, but over 30 hours of labor was no fun at all.  By the end of the whole thing, I was thinking of how to redecorate the hospital curtains with shower curtains from this site.  I was going a bit stir crazy.  Though, my wife yelled at me for touching the curtains as I guess they carry a lot of germs.  Whatever.  When that baby finally came, it was all worth it.  I've never felt so much joy then seeing him come.  And, I've never felt so much relief for having it be over for my wife.  She delivered vaginally without an epidural for 33 hours.  Superwoman.  Now, we're just figuring out how to be parents and trying to get some sleep!

My wife is great at clipping coupons for our family. We on average save about 30% off our normal grocery bill each time we go. We have some friends that do it as well and they save upwards of 60% on their bills. I always knew you could find coupons for food but never expected them to be available for prescription drugs until I saw this article. We are both on prescription drugs at the moment and so this sent me search for us. No joke I was able to find some $20 off coupons for both of us. I wish this was publicly known because it could save a lot of people a lot of money.

What a brilliant weekend it was. The weather was amazing and perfect for a birthday party. There was about 30 adults and at least 30 kids for this event. Our neighbors were throwing a birthday party for their son Jimmy. I sent my wife out to pick up a present because we forgot and we couldn't go with nothing. She called me on the cell and asked whether she should get sponge bob legos or lego star wars? I immediately leaned towards Star Wars but only because I am a big fan. I hardly even know what or who sponge bob is. As we were talking about it though I started to think that he is only turning three and might have the tendency to stick things in his mouth. In the end we decided against legos and went with a playmobil. I never knew what these things were called but it's that toy that folds and unfolds into a mini city with cars and people included. We figured he was a lot less likely to be able to swallow anything.

The party was outside and it was great. The kids almost watched themselves and the adult got to chat. Jimmy got a ton of toys including ours. It almost makes me wonder how much we spend on toys each year. I saw one of my old friends from high school at the party. He is related to my neighbors some how. We got to talking about the good old days and before I knew it the party was over. We invited him over for dinner this week so that we can keep catching up. Funny how small the world can be sometimes.

My grandpa is about to retire from the Army after 35 years of service. He could have gotten out a long time ago but loved it and wanted it to be the first and only job he ever did.  We are celebrating in a few weeks with a surprise party that isn't so surprise. I have been racking my brain for a few weeks now on what to get him. My mom suggested one of these that all the guys have but I don't think my grandpa is really into wearing a custom army ring. In fact I can never remember a time where my grandpa has worn jewelry.

I was in Starbucks the other day big surprise I know and I was looking at their new coffee cups and that's when it came to me. He drinks coffee almost everyday so why not get him a custom imprinted coffee mug. He loves that kind of stuff now the only problem is figuring out what to put on the mug. I am heading over to his house this afternoon to try and pick his brain without him knowing about it. He is a bit of a photographer so maybe I can get an image off him.

What is your take on Lady Gaga? Is she to overboard and just uses her body to sell records or does she have real talent? Clearly she has a team behind her that is great at promoting her both on the Internet as well as in the lime-light. Her latest headline is her new song Telephone and how graphic it is. Somehow it is considered breaking news on CNN.

I would not be surprised if she has a personal team that does just web video production services for her. You know she isn't posting these video everywhere on the web by herself including youtube. She can now claim she has 1 billion web video hits with the help of Just Dance, Bad Romance and Poker Face. That is a massive amount that no doubt used the help of professional seo services to drive viewership of that scale. Her latest Telephone is viewer restricted on youtube, which I wonder if that will hurt it or not. My take is she is a fad that will pass like most everyone however you never know when you have the next Madonna on your hands. Time will tell.

I appreciate Google's efforts to stop China from manipulating it's people but in the end I think they are going cave. As of now things like buying tasers and those hot cyber monday deals are of limits for most in China as well as Twitter, Facebook and youtube. However to the more than 348 million users they are still allowing access to NY Times and of course all the porn sites one could want. I find it hard to believe that the Chinese government controls this kind of stuff it reminds me of 1984, which I just read recently. I know Google is doing a good thing but when it comes down to it they need to be in the world's largest Internet market if they want to stay relevant. I envision China beating Google into submission or at least coming to terms. Otherwise Google is going to be nursing it's bottom line like a crash victim is by a doctor in these. I am interested to see how this plays out in time.

I read an article tonight about cashing in on your kids. It talks about 'David After Dentist' youtube star and how his parents have brought in low six digit numbers. So I ask you is it wrong to profit off your kids and is it a violation of their privacy? Leave a comment.

I had the honor of watch my friend's new son yesterday. They just had to run to the store so I wasn't there long. He was asleep so I went upstairs to look at him. I was trying to be quiet but tripped over a National Geographic backpack in the floor. I guess someone was excited to send the boy a gift he can't use for a couple of years. I hung over his crib and just looked at him careful not to wake him. I noticed in the corner they have installed one of those wireless hidden cameras that always catch babysitters abusing children on TV. It gave me a laugh at first but the more I thought about it the more I realized its a serious matter. How do you feel about spying on babysitters? Do you think its necessary or is it an invasion of privacy especially if the sitter doesn't know about it? Anyway before I got to lost in thought about this the doorbell rang. I rushed downstairs to find a delivery man with a gift at the door. I brought it inside and then turned the TV on. They arrived shortly after that and took back over. Man I want a kid.

I went to visit an old friend the other day after I got the call that he and his wife had a son. They already have a daughter and have wanted a son for some time now. My wife and I picked out a couple of baby gifts for them. We wanted to get them some unique baby blankets, which if you look on the internet are not hard to find. I still have my first baby blanket in storage as a keepsake and thought it would be really cool to get him a great blanket. We also picked out two crib bedding sets for the baby room. I wasn't sure of the color so I had my wife call his wife a few weeks ago to see what the room was painted. They were really grateful to receive them and thanked us.

My friend's wife had a great room at the hospital complete with its own one of these. She even had a DVD player and satellite TV. We stayed until the nurses kicked us out. It was great to see him again and meet his new son. They have to stay in the hospital for several days because there were a few complications so we may go back and visit. I can't wait to have a few kids myself. This served as a real eye opener to starting a family.