Author: Josh

[flv width=”500″ height=”375″]http://www.janicek.com/video/20081204_immigrantmuseum.flv[/flv]

You can keep up with us via Facebook or see our photo gallery from NYC here.

I’ll try to keep things up-to-date on Facebook.

[flv width=”500″ height=”375″]http://www.janicek.com/video/20081129_amazingtd.flv[/flv]

The other night while Elise was running some errands, I was getting Maly ready for bed and decided to take matters into my own hands and take the nail polish remover after Maly’s toenails. The four-week-old nail polish was all chipped and looked ugly.

“Do you want to put new nail polish on your toes?”

“Yeah! Green nail polish!”

“Sugar, I don’t think we have green nail polish. But we can go get some this weekend.”

Three days later, she held me to it. After playing around the house this morning, I asked Maly if she wanted to go to the store to get nail polish.

“Yeah! We get green nail polish!”

So daddy and daughter and had ourselves a little shopping spree on Saturday morning. She picked out her green nail polish as well as a Cinderella lamp and a bag of jelly beans.

It’s going to be so hard to not give her every last thing that she wants, but I know I have to teach her.

A cold, mid-November night and the smell of burning oak reminds me of my Dad. And I love that feeling inside.

“Daddy, how’s your work doin’?”

“It’s actually doing really well. I had a really, really good day today.”

“…”

“You know, you’re such an little angel. How’s your work doin’ as my little angel?”

“It’s been good.”

Every weekday evening my daughter asks me, “how’s your work doin’?” To which I try to muster some enthusiasm for the sake of a conversation with my child. I guess because I had a good day today, I took that extra moment and thought about what my daughter was asking me. She doesn’t fain concern or inquisitiveness. She really cares. And I took another extra moment to ask her about her job.

She has an awesome job. And she does a damn good job. And she’s severely underpaid.

We’ve been slowly tinkering with idea of potty training Maly. A month ago Elise bought her a set of princess panties and today is her first day wearing a pair. The girls are at church right now and I’m curious to see if Maly made it through mass without having an accident. She already had an accident in one pair this morning.

Maly loves the praise and attention we give her whenever she uses her little training potty. It’s got to be frustrating when one is accustomed to just going whenever and wherever, and then expected to react to that biological urge and make it to the toilet in time to tend to business.

I wonder what sort of impact would be had if the civilized world reverted…

“So, Mr. Janicek, your company has made significant improvements in the world of bacon injection technologies. Can you explain these improvements to the board?”

“Hang on there, rrrrrrrrmmph, Bob. Workin’ on a job here. Could you slide that copy of US Weekly across the, mmmm uhh, table. This’ll only take a minute or two. Anyone got a match?”

Four of us took an extended lunch today, went on a photo scavenger hunt and had a blast. Michele and I came up with ~30 words yesterday, narrowed the list down to 10 and off we went today on our first monthly scavenger hunt.

The word were:

Glass
High
Wind
Season
Sign
Smoke
Number
Grand
Signal
Open
 

Maly and Elise in Des Moines for Beggars’ Night.

47 other states don’t really know what Beggars’ Night is, many Iowans included, so I’ve been told.

It’s Halloween to me and it’s all I’ve ever known – a Pagan holiday where we celebrate the dead. I’ll be embracing my secular spirituality and remembering and honoring those that are no longer with me.

Regardless, I think my daughter is a cutie as Cinderalla, or “Cirellellella”, as she’s know in our house.

As I crossed San Jacinto St. this morning a stranger approached me.

“Excuse me, sir!”

I avoided eye contact and kept walking. He called for me again. I stopped, turned and he began to speak. He told me that he was a staff sergeant in the Air Force, stationed in San Antonio. He went on to tell me he’d run out of gas at the Social Security Administration and needed some help. My instincts told me to just say, “sorry” and go about my way.

Without recounting the entire exchange, I allowed myself to be sold. I escorted him into the building and walked to the ATM where I withdrew a crisp $20 and handed it over to him.

He asked, “how am I going to be able to get this back to you?” I handed him my card and said, “call that number.”

“Josh, I really, really appreciate this.”

I have a tendency to think that I’m a good judge of character, hence me handing a $20 bill over to a complete stranger in exchange for nothing. He seemed very sincere.

He told me if I’d be at that number in an hour. I told him that I would.

He never called.

I don’t mind so much that I’m out $20. I mind that this is what our society has become. I mind that I’m raising an innocent daughter who is a beautiful person and will have to enlighten her by teaching that not everyone is beautiful.

Although they should be.

Mr. San Jacinto Street Scammer, I don’t want my $20 back. It’ll find its way back to me somehow.

[flv]http://www.hartzvictims.org/video/Hartzeffect.flv[/flv]

A month ago I seriously thought my child hated me and wanted to have nothing to do with me. I didn’t really let on to anyone, but that situation was seriously breaking my heart. It got to the point where I really didn’t want to come home from work just because I knew of the reception that I would receive.

Now it’s the complete opposite. This weekend my Maly was my little girl. And tonight when I got home from work, I couldn’t leave her side. It got to the point where we actually had this conversation:

“Okay, I have to go to the bathroom. You go get your Lincoln Logs and I’ll be in your room in a few minutes.”

“You go to bathroom?”

“Yes, daddy has to use the restroom.”

“Okay! Let’s go. I hold your hand.”

To which I couldn’t object, so she grabbed my hand and walked me to the bathroom. She walked me right up to the toilet, let go of my hand and waited.

“Okay! Daddy go potty! You have to poo poo? You go poo poo in the potty?”

“Well… ahem… umm. You see, Sugar, daddy has performance anxiety and I really need… Hey! Go get your Lincoln Logs in your room and I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

“You go poo poo in the potty and flush the poo poo!”

And this went on for a few minutes. Finally I had to get Elise to help me out so I could tend to business. Maly freaked out and insisted that she be with me.

I think in the long run, I spared my daughter an experience that’s not necessarily noteworthy, but the cool part is that my daughter loves me again and I’m experiencing an excited and smiling face when I get home in the evenings. That’s something that I’ve longed for for what seems like an eternity. And I’m cherishing the hell out of it for as long as I can.

I sat in a large conference room at the Attorney General’s office this afternoon. It was a very, very good meeting. Hopefully I can divulge more later.