caleb made it to one

There are a couple of monumental things that have happened in our life since my last post and this one will screw with the chronology of it all, but c'mon, our son turned one! Here is a quick synopsis of what the past year has been like.  Kudos to the ever-warm, always-motherly Emmelle and happy birthday to our dear son. Thanks for stopping by.

adult orthodonics: volume II

Back when I wrote volume I of this tome in February of 2014, I left devout readers ABSOLUTELY hanging by concluding that I would write more on the topic in six months. Alas, I never did! I am happy to announce that the opportunities to write more on this topic with all of this gear in my mouth will (should) be short-lived. October 9. That’s the scheduled date for extraction, and I couldn’t be more excited. Looking back on the whole thing – a full two years has come and passed – I realize now that there is really nothing of interest to say about it. Its uncomfortable, its annoying, its slightly embarrassing; that sentiment doesn’t fluctuate in the slightest. Save just one thing. It has been remarkable to watch Young Master Caleb reach milestones – both physical and mental. The advances he has achieved after hitting ten months have especially been impressive and stunning. It feels like an awakening of sorts, starting to get to a place in both mind and body with full realization of self and his environment. Just a handful of weeks ahead of this recent development however, Young MC had reached a point in his progress to recognize that something was peculiar or at least unique regarding the contents of my mouth. He would curiously poke and prod and stare inquisitively. Or we might be playing together. He yields a smile, I smile; he stares and ceases all activity. The prodding commences. It’s time to investigate this familiar man’s teeth again. His eyes basically scream, “WHAT IS THIS?” He will of course not recall any of this in future years. But for the time being, I must appear monstrous. And if not for familiarity, there would be no affection or interaction awarded. I would be like another stranger – accept a grizzly machine-like version. Don’t get me wrong; it feels warm and wonderful when he shoves his index finger into my mouth. Yet it’s a harsh reminder veiled in a cute pudgy finger.  You are different. You are not supposed to have this all over my teeth. All would say the same if not for the niceties demanded by our society. October 9 cannot come soon enough. Thanks for stopping by.

tanoshi - upper east side

The majority of my visits to NYC keep me confined to the midtown / Times Square area. In fact, I’ve had some depressing business trips in which all of my dinner meals are prepared and delivered by hotel staff.  At times it’s unavoidable with the amount of work and people meeting necessary in a condensed amount of time. But it engenders  an unbreakable, unwanted habit. As the kids say, this falls within the range of a “first world problem”. But who cares – I live in the first world. And this is a problem. With Young MC’s arrival, my east coast trips have (fortunately) been less frequent. And those less frequent trips have become shorter as well. Gone are the trips in which I would bridge two weeks’ of meetings with a drunk fest weekend in Washington D.C. So, I should be making the most of these less frequent, shorter trips? Otherwise  I would find myself in a perpetual loop of the worst kind of business travel, the ones in which all of the minor perks you lean on to get you through the week are null and void. A couple of trips ago, I made my first visit to Brooklyn (really, after like 30ish previous travels to NYC). On my most recent jaunt, I made a solo dinner reservation at a place called Tanoshi – an unassuming omakase joint on the upper east side. I am getting adventurous! Tanoshi consistently popped up on high grade sushi establishments I researched in the city. The lone one I’ve previously been to was Sushi Yasuda near Grand Central. The omakase menu by itself is worth a trip. 10-12 pieces plus opportunity to order anything else on the menu a la carte. There are just a few seats in the diminutive, unassuming establishment – all things to help you get into a mode of focusing on nothing but stripped down fish. But when you add the ~$75 cost and bring-your-own-beer/wine/sake, it turns into an incredible deal. And you know that I’m the be-all-end-all authority on raw fish. Remember, I’m the dude who ate here. I will brag about that until I die. Seriously, if I’m talking sushi with anyone, a reference to that leads to wide-eyed bewilderment and awe. It instantaneously provides a legitimacy like few things in my material-driven life. “This guy is SERIOUS about his fish.” Anyway, finding top grade sushi joints on any of our travels is always a priority for me - whether its professional or personal travel. I might as well try to seek them out more frequently to the food mecca I visit more than any other. Thanks for stopping by.

happy father's day

My first Father’s Day came and went. I find the holiday pretty much nonsensical – unless of course you are a male parent raising your child(ren) on your own. In my first eight months as a parent, I can say without hesitation that dads serve as much utility as this blog. By this blog, I mean, this blog. Certainly, parents will carve out a day-to-day rhythm with distinguished responsibilities. But take the father out of the equation and everyone will comfortably survive (thrive) to the next day. And the one after that. The other way around? Anarchy, destruction, complete chaos. I don’t know about you but I can’t envision domestic anarchy without visualizing a kitchen faucet run amok and potato chips splayed across the counter. Devastation! Its what would happen if Emmelle exited stage GreensandBrowns for more than a night. Its hard to fathom the thought. Perhaps I am being excessive in my critique of our (collective fathers everywhere) value. There are a couple of tasks that fully rest on dad’s shoulders…literally.  Any jobs that are becoming of a mule or sherpa; these are great responsibilities for dad. And for hauling luggage from one location to the next, we celebrate dads everywhere. How did I celebrate? We couldn’t get the timing right for a lunch reservation and ate quickly at a (our future) neighborhood bakery. With Young MC in good spirits, we went grocery shopping. Yes, yes – big things on this day. He fell asleep in the store, and I guzzled a frosty pale ale in the parking lot, wrapped around a pair of cotton shorts we'd purchased for him earlier. It was perfect. Happy Father’s Day to you. Happy Father’s Day to me. And most importantly, Happy Father’s Day to Emmelle. Thanks for stopping by.

what i need that i don't need: TOMS grey chambray brogues

In light of my recent (very personal) sharing of some essentials that I need, I figure it would behoove all to know exactly what comes down from the list and re-categorized into the "I got my hands on it" bucket. As an anecdote, I recently received the same Batman shirt for my birthday. This is just unacceptable and can easily be avoided with a list such as this. By the good grace of the lord, I've recently obtained an item on the list, which undoubtedly is making me a better person. I've kept a pair of TOMS in my shoe rotation since the brand launched some years ago but excited to add these slightly less casual shoes into the rotation. pair of grey shoes Young MC, this is what your dad is wearing in 2015.Thanks for stopping by.

stuff that i need that i don't need

In an effort to help all of the GreensandBrowns readers with future gift-giving needs, I have dedicated a whole page on the blog to curating my greatest necessities. Please see the link below: stuff that i need that i don't need Thanks for stopping by.

caleb chronicles: who are you

The purpose of this blog, the main purpose, was to document some of my life's joys and blessings as they happened in a semi real-time format. So that, years down the road, I could complement any amount of videos, photographs, holograms (?) with my actual thoughts. Putting pen-to-paper once every six months doesn't seem to jive with that intent, especially if these last six months coincided with months two through seven for our young son, Master Caleb. Our son is almost seven months old (!), and the intent of this post has changed a bit. At original time of writing, he was just one month old, and we still knew very little about him. Since then, he has revealed quite a bit of his personality. He seems to be fairly mellow with some very quickly escalated bursts of rage. I am generally very scared of him. He gives away smiles fairly quickly (too easily) to strangers but that has changed very slightly in the last couple of weeks as the concept of "Stranger Danger" seems to play a more integral role in his disposition. But what I originally intended were some things that are secondary thoughts, and mostly concerns. Its easy to pick out elements of his personality that he'll likely retain for life. But what about things that don't reveal themselves for much longer? And the things that I'm fretting about are a laundry list of questions such as "Will you have back problems like your father?", "Have I passed on any unhealthy ailments?". All fully out of our control, and all that much more worrisome. Nevertheless, by virtue and hard work of his mother, he is a happy, well-fed baby. His curated photo album below: Master Caleb, who are you? Master Caleb's Flickr Page Thanks for stopping by.