A Low-Tech Gift with High-Tech Uses

June is the birthday month of my oldest grandchild and so I need to think of an appropriate gift to get him. This morning my son reached out to me and suggested I get the same thing my wife's father got him when my son turned this age: a genuine Swiss-army knife. Thinking about the gift, I think it is a great gift for someone of my grandson's age and so I immediately ordered it from Amazon.

Now a pocket knife is controversial gift for a young boy. Some might say it is too young for such a dangerous weapon. My youngest son was slightly older when we decided to core apples while camping and he seriously cut the palm of his hand and required stitches. With the knowledge of that event now, I might have taken the time to do a bit more teaching on the proper use of knives and my son might not have required a late-night doctor's visit.

Looking at the picture of the knife on my computer, I doubt the knife blade will ever get used that much. I have a lot of adult friends that carry knives daily because of all the other tools they contain. The one I have chosen has both Philips and flat-head screwdriver blades. I am always using mine to remove covers off electronic equipment to replace batteries or scrape corroded connectors. Carrying a multi-purpose knife has its benefits. I'm sure it will get used.

One important thing I will have to stress to my grandson is not to ever bring it to school. While that is something I could do when I was his age, we are all a little paranoid when children bring weapons to school. Rather than have to deal with severe consequences it is best if he leaves the useful tool at home.  

It's A Girl!

Yesterday we had all of my children and grandchildren (all 2 of them) at the house for Sunday dinner. We had a good party and then things wound down. My oldest son and his wife stuck around a bit while I entertained my oldest grandchild. Eventually it came time to put him to bed and so we put him in my wife's sewing room. Once he fell asleep, his parents headed home for one last night of good rest. This morning my son took his wife to the hospital and this evening my 3rd grandchild was born.

At about 3:30 this morning my grandson woke up and realized he was not at his own home. He called for my wife and worried where his mother might be. My wife calmed him down and then we got a few minutes of sleep before I had to get up at 5:15 to catch my plane to the Bay Area. My wife and I thought our grandson was asleep as we got ready to go to the airport. Sure enough, the little man came down the stairs before we could get out the door. He wanted to play. We took him with us to the airport where he helped "Nana" drop "Bampa" to catch a plane.

I knew my latest granddaughter would be born while I am away but I got on the plane anyways. Grandpas are not really needed at this stage of the child's life and I would just get in the way. I will fly back on Thursday and probably get to see the newborn on Friday. In the meantime I am relying on copious group-text messages and pictures to share in the experience. I sincerely appreciate technology and the ability to instantly send photographs for these very important life moments.

Night Rock Climbing

My youngest daughter had her birthday a week ago and so my wife joined me in the Uinta Mountains to spend time with her. This daughter is the director of climbing for a summer camp and spends her weekdays teaching Boy Scouts how to climb. On Friday nights they will do night climbs and last week's evening of fun happened to fall right on my daughter's birthday.

My daughter had explained night climbs before but I had no idea what a party the evenings turn out to be. My daughter's boss has a set of outdoor speakers that he sets up with the help of stored music on his smartphone. Then all of the boys show up headlamps ready to climb about 50 feet. When I first heard of the event, I thought there might be 10 or so boys. Nope, imagine the entire camp showing up. Throw in the loud music, bobbing headlamps, and excitement of 14 to 18 year old boys. The sight impressed me and seemed like a lot of fun.

Last week my wife and I really enjoyed our evening watching our daughter celebrate her birthday. Our daughter enjoyed herself as well. In a world where I imagine most teenage boys enjoy video games and technology, it pleased me to see such a large group outside having good clean fun.

Happy Birthday

Today is my 41st Birthday (I like Mounds candy bars for anyone thinking about getting me a gift). When you are a kid, the whole world can stop while you take time to celebrate. As an adult it generally means that you are just one year older and nobody but your immediate family really cares. That being said, I have already received several congratulatory e-mails and phone calls from friends. Now if we could only figure out a way to send someone Mounds bars through the phone or e-mail, my morning would be complete.

Every year I see my birthday approaching and wonder how I am going to spend it. My Dad thinks I go a bit overboard and says I am building unrealistic expectations in my children as to how birthdays should be spent. I just want one day a year to stand above the rest as truly "special" (besides Christmas).

One year for my birthday I rented a little 4-seater plane and flew down to Moab, Utah for a day of mountain biking. Since I don't have a pilot's license, it was quite the adventure. One of the guys I invited to ride was a pilot but he still let me fly most of the way. I took us off but was more than happy to let him land. The only unfortunate part of the trip was that one of the guys with us fell off his bike and broke his collar bone. It makes a great story though.

When my wife turned 30, she cashed in all my frequent flyer miles and took the family to Hawaii. That was a fun trip as we got to do the tourist thing all over Oahu. On the actual birthday, we had a fabulous Luau and ate like Samoans (they don't eat until they are full, they eat until they fall down).

Yesterday I logged onto my frequent flyer mileage account and looked into getting a ticket to Hawaii. With the downturn in the economy I actually could have taken a non-stop from Salt Lake to Honolulu in the morning, spent the day in Hawaii, and then flown back during the night. The only catch was that I needed to pay a rapid redemption fee of $150. When I was a Platinum frequent flyer member the airlines would waive the fee. I could think of better ways to spend frequent flyer miles and $150 and so I decided against it.

Tomorrow a big company is looking at some software I wrote over the past year. There could be a paycheck in it for me and so I want the demo to go flawlessly. So instead of doing anything exotic on my birthday today, I am going to spend the next several hours in front of the computer sprucing things up a bit. I guess I have to be a grown-up every once and awhile.