Following the Big Aristotle
November 25, 2008 by Ryan
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The Diesel…
The Big Aristotle…
The Big Daddy…
The Big Shaqtus…
The Big Baryshnikov…
Shaquille O’Neal!
I remember when he first came into the league he made a huge impact, most memorably because he would always break the back boards. I remember even more fondly when he came to the Lakers and we went on a tear and won three straight championships! Of course there was the Kobe feuds, which I think the media way over-hyped and unfortunately led to the breakup of one of the best dynasties in recent memory. He went to Miami and delivered on his promise to bring a championship. Then he came to Phoenix, stepping into a system that many doubted he could fit in, but got slim and fit and sure enough ran right along Steve Nash. This year he is one of Hollingers top surprises of the season.
He impacted the league in a big way and he’s just stepped into a new league where he could have a huge impact…Twitter. Twitter? I would imagine many of you have never heard of it. Maybe you’ve heard me go off about it but didn’t really get it. My quick explanation is it’s somewhere in between instant messaging, texting & blogging. I could/should/will write a whole post about Twitter and how cool it is, but this post is about @the_real_shaq! Unlike some of the accounts on Twitter (Britney Spears aka @therealbritney & Barack Obama aka @barackobama) who have staffs doing posts, @the_real_shaq IS the real Shaq! Here’s some fun things I’ve seen since I’ve been following his updates:
- Shaq called one of his early followers who doubted it was really him and then invited him to a game! Here’s a story Mashable did about it.
- Shaq asking where he should go to Subway or Schlotsskys. He chose Subway, so I went too! Could be a huge marketing campaign to have what Shaq orders up at Subway. I guess he’d have to eat there everyday which I don’t know if I could do.
- Shaq and @PhoenixSunsGirl took pics at their “Twitter Tutorial”. She introduced him to Twitter. Still trying to get them to get Steve Nash on.
- Watching my friend Nate (@mollermarketing) campaigning to get Shaq to follow him…only to have him do it! He even gave him a few shout outs which will be huge for Nate!
I think Shaq coming to Twitter could have huge implications in bringing it into the mainstream. Check it out!
Don’t forget to follow me! @ryansmiller
Halloween, Halloween!
October 31, 2008 by Ryan
Happy Halloween Everyone!
I can’t believe this is Kim’s third Halloween! She was just a ball of pink dressed as Piglet for her first & we didn’t go trick-or-treating on her second.
That’s what made this Halloween so fun! We went trick-or-treating, it was Jeremy’s first Halloween, and we got to do the first of many years of coordinating costumes! As you can see we did Mickey & Minnie. We took these picture and just died with how cute they came out!
Hope everyone had a safe & happy Halloween!
Friends & Family: Be sure to leave links to pictures of your kids in their costumes!
Update on a few more notes that I forgot to include last night:
Beth actually made Jeremy’s costume!
A black long-sleeve onsie + black tights (at least it’s not a full on dress like my mom put me in once!) + red sweats cut into shorts with felt circles sewn on and a shoelace tail + white socks for gloves & yellow socks for boots + the Mickey ears we got last weekend from Disneyland! I think it turned out adorable!
Tip for Trick-or-Treating with little ones
We went with cousins and they were smart enough to bring a little wagon! It made it so much better for the sometimes long walks between houses. The kids didn’t get quite as tired and we didn’t have to wait for little legs to catch up!
My Little Family
October 22, 2008 by Ryan
It’s after midnight.
I’m up because both Kimberly and Jeremy have colds.
I’m sitting in my bed with Kimberly sleeping next to me, so cute, so peaceful…other than her occasional cough.
Next to her is Beth, with Jeremy sleeping on her chest. I’m jealous. I love when they sleep on your chest. He just giggled in his sleep! That’s good, poor little guy caught Kimberly’s cold. He really loves his mama!
Beth is asleep…I think. I think I might be keeping her up with my typing. She’s so good with the kids.
It’s so sad but sometimes it’s so sweet taking care of the sick babies. Every now and then they snuggle into you, or do something off the charts cute and I exchange looks of “Ahhhhh” with little half-frowns with Beth.
You might think that I’d be thinking, “This sucks!” Instead, it makes me think of how much I love being Daddy!
Nightmare Before Christmas…Tree!
October 13, 2008 by Ryan
Our Nightmare Tree
You know, I think this Christmas thing
is not as tricky as it seems!
But why should they have all the fun?
It should belong to anyone!
Not anyone, in fact, but me!
Why, I could make a Christmas tree!
And there’s not a reason I can find,
I couldn’t have a Christmastime!
I bet I could improve it, too!
And that’s exactly what I’ll do!
-Jack Skellington
“The Nightmare Before Christmas”
Halloween Trees are all the rage these days. My wife sees them in tons of the countless Mama/Crafts/Design blogs that she subscries to. Trendy or not, I think it’s cool and we had fun making it which is what really counts! We found the branches outside my work, brought them home, spray painted them black and did this!
Halloween has always been a holiday. Nothing beats the excitement of those nights trick-or-treating! Running from door to door trying to get as much candy as you can stuff into your pillow case (Yes, experienced Trick-Or-Treaters know that you don’t use the wimpy Jack-O-Lantern buckets, you use the pillow case because it hold like 10x as much!) I remember how fun it was to run around with all my friends, the McCraes and the Sundbergs, way back and then Robbie & Andy when I was older but still old enough to get away with trick-or-treating.
Back in the day, my house had quite the reputation! My dad was working for M&M/Mars and come Halloween he laid out two huge tables filled with boxes of full-size Snickers, Twix, Milky Ways, etc. and we’d invite everyone to come in and grab a few. We would have kids that would switch masks and come back over and over. We’d have people that would drive just to come to our house! It was funny the year my dad switched companies and we were relegated to handing out the “normal” Halloween candies. I remember over hearing a few kids say, “They must have moved!?”
Somewhere between then and a few years back Halloween lost it’s excitement for me. Then I married a Halloween fanatic! Add to that kids coming into the ages that it becomes really fun and Halloween is back to being a really exciting time. We’ve been watching a ton of The Nightmare Before Christmas especially because of the new anniversay edition. We put the digital copy it comes with on our little Archos video player for Kim and bought her some headphones for car trips, but she loves it so much, she’ll watch it on her own some days. If you ever get to talk to her about it she calls it Halloween, Halloween.
The Hairesy of 2008
October 4, 2008 by Ryan
Here’s some cute pics we told of Jeremy & Kimberly. You’ll notice their hair has been “done up” because we took them in conjunction with what I am referring to as The Hairesy of 2008!
Beth wanted to get her hair cut, and it had been a while because like any good husband I’ve resisted, for her own good. What? I’m a fan of long hair!
So finally I relented and gave her the green light. She posted to get suggestions on how she would get her hair cut. The consensus came back for the Feb ‘08 haircut and the deed was done about two weeks ago. She’s finally getting around to posting the results but I thought I’d link up and post the kids pics along with her update.
For the record…I think you look beautiful baby!
AFV Candidate?
October 4, 2008 by Ryan
Like I previously posted, we haven’t been the best at getting the pictures & videos we take of the kiddos up so everyone can see. That said, we’re going to try to post something every weekend.
I’ve wanted to get these last two videos up for like a week, so you get two this weekend!
We went to Walmart late one night because we needed milk & bread…apparently we went a little too late! Kim was so cute as she struggled to stay awake. I shot this from my phone, so forgive the pixelation. This is one of those essential America’s Funniest Videos. It’s no “Shake Hands” (Miller home video that most unfortunately got erased, Sorry Mom) 
but I’m glad I caught it!
No Remedy Like Laughter
October 4, 2008 by Ryan
If you are down about the mess with the economy, frustrated with the election, and depressed about the Cubs & Angels losing, let me offer this to cheer you up!
One night we were just playing as a family and Jeremy started crackin’ up when we’d toss this little beanbag. We’re not always good about getting it on video, and even worse about getting from the camera on to YouTube or our blogs, but we’re gonna try to be better!
Stay Humble
September 24, 2008 by Ryan
Photo by Stephen Dunn/Getty Images
Jose Arredondo grabbed the maintenance hose and started spraying his teammates and the fans that stayed hours after the game to wait for the clinch. And clinch we did…
- First Team to clinch the playoffs this year!
- Earliest clinching of the division title in franchise history!
- Fifth-fastest team in Major League history!
In a weak AL West, we’ve had a comfortable lead for quite a while, but Mike Scioscia and the Angels aren’t/haven’t let up! “Stay Humble” has been the theme for the end of this season so we don’t get overconfident. The example last year of the streaking Rockies shows how important it is to go into the playoffs hot, so I’m very glad that Scioscia is doing this.
Go Halos!
A Few of Highs Points of the Season for Me
How I Got My Heart of Stone
September 24, 2008 by Ryan
No one quite knows the reason.
It could be perhaps that his shoes were too tight.
It could be his head wasn’t screwed on just right.
But I think that the most likely reason of all
May have been that his heart was two sizes too small.
- Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas
I have been indoctrinated.
I admit it. From the time that I was born, I have been raised with a specific worldview. Primarily, I believe what I believe because I was raised that way and I vote the way I vote because I was raised to vote that way.
Have my ideals been challenged? Definitely. Have I defended my views? Absolutely. But being challenged and defending a worldview when it has been so thoroughly ingrained doesn’t necessarily indicate that you have evaluated and internalized those values. After all, “talking points” are called “talking points” for a reason.
Why do I believe what I believe? Maybe it is because my shoes are too tight! Or worse! Maybe, because I have been raised in such a callous, greed-driven, privileged environment, I am actually heartless? Let’s look at the factors that contributed to my values. Which elements give credence to the criticism that I have been brainwashed, or at least, have a very limited perspective on the world?
5 Keys to Understanding Your Political Opposition
September 17, 2008 by Ryan
The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.
- Albert Einstein
What a crazy few months! It has been a while since I have been this involved and seen so much participation in politics!
Politically, I’ve always considered myself informed and able to articulate why I support a certain viewpoint. I give much of that credit to my very politically active father. As it always is, this election year it is important to understand these issues, the candidates and take part in the democratic process. However, as my sister-in-law pointed out:
There are three things I have learned never to discuss with people: religion, politics, and the Great Pumpkin
– Linus in It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
Particularly with family! Politics can be a sensitive subject! Most of the time, our views extend into a very emotional space. While we should attempt to approach the issues logically, it is not realistic to say rational discussion is going to happen in every dialogue when parties both feel that the other represents the exact opposite of everything they believe.
I do not intend to set forth my views and argue why the other side is wrong (at least in this post). Instead, I want to discuss the decision-making process.
I have thought about this a lot this year, because I want to know for myself why I will be voting the way I am voting. This is not exhaustive, but here are some of the rationales I see people using to make their decision:
