March 5th Ok, as I'm sitting here getting ready to just "speak my mind," I feel in awe, and wonder where the heck the time has flown. On the first of the month, William celebrated his fifth month birthday. I know I'm going to sound like a typical proud father here, but it just amazes me how much he's already becoming a little boy, not a baby anymore. In the past month, he has started making noises that, sometimes in the right context, might actually make a word or two. Also, he is not only eating solid food (rice & banana cereal is his favorite), but he is drinking water from a cup. Yup, you heard me right, a cup. No more water bottles for Mr. Big, nope; he needs to drink the water from a cup (with a little help from Mommy, of course). Physically, he is getting bigger each day. His hair is starting to fill in (light brown) and his eyes are still as blue as can be. His overall movement is improving; he can just about roll himself over (we are thinking that his cyst might hurt his balance a little, but we will see). With our family growing and such, we have decided to trade in our Honda Accord for a (dare I say it) a minivan "ULG" I know; I had to go with it kicking and screaming, but it was quite worth it to actually not have William, his diaper bag, and the stroller be cramped into the back of the Honda. (The minivan may be another sign that I'm growing up and becoming a Dad, which I welcome greatly anyway.)
Over the past month, I've put a lot of changes into Fabersplace.com some very noticeable, others not so. The reason this column was slightly delayed was that it's official now that Fabersplace.com is on its own server and domain. No more typing www.nwlink.com/~kalico, nope; the only way to get to the Web site now will be by visiting www.fabersplace.com. Also, I have reconfigured the navigation bars on the side of each page for easier browsing through my site. Last but not least, I have unveiled the Boards@fabersplace.com, a new and ingenious way of us keeping in touch with one another, and meeting new friends and such. Take a look and let me know what you think. One of the reasons I've introduced Boards@fabersplace.com is that I pride myself in knowing the workings of the Internet, but I get frustrated while trying to attract new viewers to Fabersplace. I have done the search engine thing, improved the site's appearance, and added the message board-hopefully these elements will help attract more viewers like you to Fabersplace.com (I have additional ideas in mind, but I want to take one step at a time). (SORRY THE BOARDS WENT DOWN PERMENTLY IN 2001 -- Mike - January 2003)
Yes, my friends, March is here and the smell of spring is in the air..and you know what that means! No, not thoughts of love (gee, come on, I'm married here); it's Spring Training! Yup, boys and girls, baseball season is right around the corner. Baseball players are reporting to training camp in Florida and Arizona to their fans' delight. The good news is that I got tickets for opening day at Safeco Field to see the Mariners take on the Red Sox. The BAD news is that Bruce Springsteen is doing a Seattle concert the same night. Arrrggggg. What is a guy to do? Oh, well.
In other concert news, David took me to see "Weird" Al Yankovic in concert for my birthday. The concert was quite fun; "Weird Al" actually changed outfits more times than Cher does when she's in concert. You might be thinking "Ewwww "Weird" Al", but he actually did one of the better contests that I have been to. Al played a full range of his songs spanning his almost 20-year career. The kicker of the show was, between songs, when Al ran videos of various infomercials, old B movies, and 50's safety videos. One of the safety videos proscribed that, when changing your radio station while driving, be sure to come to a full stop no matter where you are. Another warned that, when sitting at a formal dinner table, use the first fork for salad, the second for the main course, and the third fork to fight off rabid Wolverines. Gee, it sure was a scary world back in the '50s, eh?
In the word around us, we are about to embark on "Super Tuesday"; in the political arena, both Bill Bradley and John McCain are fighting for their political careers. Even though I'm not a huge political person, I can guess that Bush and Gore will be the main competitors in the fall elections for president. For me personally, I feel forced to choose between the lesser of two evils, but I'm not going to state my own political choice between the two. I just don't want to turn this site into a quwasi pro- whoever forum. Nah, that's not me; I like telling you everything from both sides (good and bad). I can assure you, though, that it's going to be a long seven months till the elections are done and over with.

See Ya, Peace Mike

P.S. If you get a chance to catch the Sopranos on HBO, please do, it's quickly becoming my favorite TV show, I think you will like it too.