My son turned 4 today...

Hard to believe that about this time four years ago I was laying in the hospital bed my (now ex-) wife had temporarily vacated and holding my newborn son and giving him his first taste of hockey as the Habs and the Devils skated to a 1-1 tie.

In four short years he's gone from not being able to sit up to not being able to sit still. Oh baby, does time fly by.

Last night before bed he was playing in his room and working on his latest "invention". I walked into his bedroom to tell him it was time to get ready for bed and I nearly tripped over a contraption connected by shoe lace and a belt and two Fisher Price buildings.

"Whoa, what is this?" I asked Collin as I regained my balance.
"It's the Hydromatic Looker 3000!" Collin answered without hesitation.
"Sounds interesting Collin... but what does it do?" This I had to hear.
"It looks for things you lost!" Collin responded in a tone that implied I should have already known the function of this machine just by the name. And in hindsight a Hydromatic Looker does seem pretty self explanatory.

Why would he invent such a machine? Flashback two hours prior, and Collin was playing with my video camera. In the process of filming a documentary on how stuffed animals won't move without assistance, he misplaced the lens cap to my camera.

After he and I had a short discussion about how important it is to take care of things you borrow from other people, and unable to remember where he put the lens cap, he decided he would let science work on his behalf apparently.

I thought I was a smart kid at his age because I could read and operate an Atari 2600. My boy reads, laughed when I tried showing him an Atari 2600 game, sends e-mail on our Nintendo Wii, and now apparently is dabbling in simple machines.

Did the "Hydromatic Looker 3000" find my lens cap? Not directly. I told Collin to dismantle his creation and put everything back where it goes. While putting the pieces of his hard work back in drawers and his closet he ended up finding my lens cap. I love how things like that work out.

When I laid him down for bed tonight and bent over to kiss him good night, he says, "shhhhhh, do you hear that? My brain is growing!"

It sure is, buddy. And your brain has many years of growing still ahead of it. I'm looking forward to being a part of every moment of it.

Jessica, my niece and flute player

It's nice to have extra time to spend with family you don't get to see often enough. I have been in Georgia visiting my sister Sandy and her family this week, and it has been a pleasure.

It seems the older I get the more I appreciate family more, and the more I look forward to seeing those that live out of town.

My niece Jessica is fifteen and is quite the softball pitcher. This year she made the decision to focus her attention on her flute playing, and it is really starting to pay off. Jessica performs with her school marching band and practices often, making sure her performance is just right.

In this video here she is working on a new piece she received for her school's annual Christmas performance.

Talent is something that many of us take for granted, myself included. What may seem easy for one, is difficult for many others. I might think it is nothing when I pick up the harmonica and blow out a few blue riffs, whereas someone else can never see themselves puffing out more than a few unorchestrated sour notes.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with giving ourselves a pat on the back for our abilities now and then, and Jessica certainly deserves to toot her own horn a bit for all her hard work in her flute playing.

"What would Uncle John say?"

My brother Randy and I flew in to Georgia on Friday night, and with that I owe a thank you for the 11 mini-bottles of whiskey and 6 beers that AirTran provided us in first class on the flight.

If you ever fly AirTran, they offer you the ability to upgrade to first class at the time you check in, and it usually varies between $40-$85, depending on how far you're flying. If you like leg room and drinking, it is well worth it.

We're in town visiting with our sister Sandy and her family, and to partake in her annual Halloween party this past Saturday. But the trip took on a more somber purpose: we found out Saturday morning that our Uncle John passed away.

Uncle John was my dad's brother and my favorite uncle. He was probably one of the best men I ever knew, and I don't make that statement lightly. I have two nephews and three nieces myself, and whenever I'd interact with them I told myself I wanted to be just like my Uncle John to them. That's the kind of profound impact this man had on my life.

This news took all of my family by complete surprise. Uncle John was living healthy, seemed healthy when we saw him this summer, and to find out he was suddenly gone one night in his sleep completely boggles my mind and frightens my heart.

So as we digested the news and contemplated plans for going to Florida, we remembered that we had a Halloween party planned that night. How do you party after hearing news like this? So my sister Sandy put the question out there: "What would Uncle John say?"

Without any hesitation we all had the same answer: "Have that party!"

And we did. I went out and got my costume: a "Big and Tasty" pickle barrel with a convenient hole cut out of the front for "pickles" to be dispensed. (Pictures will eventually make their way to this blog.) Then we had an awesome time with a great group of people. It was wonderful to see friends from when I used to live in Georgia.

During the party I stopped for a moment and thought that somewhere my Uncle John is sitting with my Grandpa looking down on me and saying, "look at Bob's boy. That has to be the most ridiculous looking costume I've ever seen." I can't argue with that assessment.

I will miss you terribly, Uncle John. Thank you for showing me how a truly awesome Uncle should be. I could not have asked for a better gift.