Author: Mark

My first week in my new job has been very good, and I have three great managers treating me nice and showing me the ropes of my job. When I logged in on last Tuesday for the first time, I had over 100 emails! The earliest was from September 27th! Yeah, it was a bit…

On August 15th and after 15 years with WAMU/Chase, I resigned. I was supposed to start a new job on that same day, but that job fell through. I probably should’ve held off on resigning and used one more sick day, but I was excited and eager to start something new. It was a remote…

Last week, the only interesting thing that happened was that I got to pick Niko up by myself on Tuesday and Wednesday. Nina worked some extra hours at her job, so she wanted to keep working during the pick-up time. No biggie! I am the dad, and I can do it. When I arrived at…

Niko has had a cough for several weeks, and when it comes to medicine, it’s very hard to get him to take it no matter what the flavor is. We have a lot of variety to choose from. He expects medicine to taste good, and we are like nope. On Sunday night right before bedtime,…

On Wednesday, the school had early dismissal. We dropped him off at school at 7:40 and picked him up at 11:45. During that time, he had his two favorite activities – recess and a small snack in his classroom. We also surprised him with the pizza car (that’s what he calls it) for lunch. When…

I am not planning on writing about each week of school for Niko, but so far, each week, something fun has happened. On Friday, Niko had a dentist appointment scheduled in advance. So, I got the lucky straw and got to get him out school early. It took less than 5 minutes from the time…

After I read the autobiography of James Patterson in May, I read the first two books in the Alex Cross series; mainly because they were both made into movies. Immediately, I was hooked and read the rest of the series in order which was 29 books! Yeah, 29 books and number 30 will be released…

Last Monday, Niko woke up 10 pm because he needed to use the bathroom. I don’t think he has a sense of time, because during that time, he asked me what are we doing afterwards? I was like, well, Niko, we are going back to bed as it’s only 10 pm and we can sleep…

Niko finished his second week of school and again, he did awesome. Despite the fact, that one morning me and him were awake at 4 am and neither of us went back to sleep; sometimes that happens with him. I stopped in June waking him up in the middle of the night for a quick…

Well, Niko is one week into school, and so far, everything has been going great. It’s a big change for all of us and we are still getting familiar with new routines in the mornings and afternoons. All last week, Nina and I dropped him off and picked him up together. We are allowed in…

My third Amazon e-book has just been published, and it tells the extraordinary story of how I got started as a statistician, writer, and photographer. It’s free for a few days, so get it now and leave a review on Amazon. Click here for the link! I will tell you that I was the Track…

Tomorrow, Niko starts first grade, and it will be his first schooling experience. Last week, the school had an open house where we were able to explore the campus, and also meet his teacher and see his classroom. Niko is excited and nervous, and so are we. It will be weird not having him home…

Niko starts first grade on August 22nd. It will be his first experience in that environment as he has been home with us since he was born. We would’ve sent him last year to be a Kindergartner, but at that point in the Covid-19 pandemic, vaccinations weren’t available to kids, and we didn’t want to…

Niko has two playlists. One of them is on his iPad and it plays every night as he sleeps. It’s mostly from Kiri Te Kanawa and a few songs that are Super Mario Bros related. I hear it clearly when I sleep as I have an audio monitor on my night table – sometimes, I…

Usually, by the time Sunday morning arrives, I have something already written in draft mode so all I have to do is click publish. But today, I have nothing. I had a few ideas spinning around, but every time I started typing, I kept erasing it. It wasn’t good material. I had something about my…

On Monday morning, I was home alone for a few hours as Niko and Nina had doctor’s appointments. I have been home alone before, but those times, I was always working. I was off from work and after I helped Niko get dressed and belted safely in the car, I waved goodbye. I knew what…

I had something else written that I was going to publish today about Niko’s closet and dresser, but I decided to scrap that one because I have something better to write about. Oh, you really want to know about his closet and dresser. Well, here it is: Niko used to have all of his clothes…

Niko has been watching a lot of Captain Underpants lately and one of the albums on his iPad is from the movie Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie. My favorite song from it is called Saturday (cast version) because the lyrics are funny: I love SaturdayWhen anything is possibleI love Saturday‘Cause I can wear my…

A few weeks ago, I read the autobiography of James Patterson, and I really enjoyed it. I knew he was a writer, but that was it. I had never ready any of his books. I just figured, a writer writing about his life – interesting. Let me check it out and read it. I enjoyed…