Now what!? Come and find out! This one is for you all.
So today is my 35th birthday, and it has been amazing. Today’s post may be a little long winded and I want to apologize up front. A year ago my now wife, Renee, gave me a gift for my birthday. It was one of the best gifts I’ve ever had. It was a cookie jar filled 365 things that she loved about me and us. I took it upon myself to revive my blog and start posting them. I did pretty well for a while then things got busy and life just happens. It was good stuff that happened and I’m thankful for the time. Then I would post catch up blogs post and what not and I moved here to http://taoofcao.com. So today I present to you, the last list of 365 things that Renee loves about me and us.
“246. You can carry a lot of bags when we come home from the grocery store.”
“277. You melt faces as a warlock.”
“196. I have never seen anybody wrap presents as awesome as you do.”
“237. I love how you fold clothes…and you always do it better than I do.”
“331. You gave me time to study when I needed it”
As I read over these it makes me realize how one lucky of a man I am to have someone as wonderful as Renee. She is my True North, the place my “hearthstone” is set, and such a rock in my life. She is so grateful for me and I am so grateful for her. I am a happier and better man because of you, Thank you.
So let’s go over the things that were listed here, lol.
One of the things I’ve learned over time with living any where that isn’t on the first floor is to learn to carry as much groceries as you can up the flights of steps to where we live. I’ve succeeded in doing this quite well to the point where grocery bags don’t always cut into my hands when I’m carrying so many. The thing that’s going on now is that we have to fight who gets to carry the most up because she wants to help.
When this list was made we were playing our warlock/hunter combo on World of Warcraft and she seemed to be quite impressed in my abilities as a warlock. I must say a little tutorial from Toni and Glenn, they were two people that helped me out with the warlock class on Earthen Ring. I think Glenn was so proud he made me an abyssal bag I still have it and it was awesome.
Ok whoever said if you are a man you can’t wrap presents is a lie. Maybe it’s just the fact that I’m so anal about even edges and perfection that I tend to over do it. I might as well tie in the fact of my clothes folding abilities. Why are you looking at me like that? You think I’m domesticated? So! My mom and grandma taught me to do stuff so if I wasn’t lucky enough to marry that I could take care of myself in some way. Not just be some man unable to take care of myself. So if that’s a bad image of me…so be it! Renee loves it! 
When Renee was finishing school I allowed her time to do what she needed to do so she could finish well. That was important for her and important for me. We both knew in the end it would pay off. There was no need for me to guilt her or make her feel bad or vice versa for what needed to be done. I know some might think how is this hard? Well for a lot of people it can be hard.
Well there it is…my cookie jar is empty and each thing is in a zip lock bag and you might wonder what will I do? Well I’m about to unzip the bag and pour them back in the cookie jar and I’m going to read through them again next year and the next year and the next year. As far as this blog? Well it will keep going 
So don’t be a stranger and I hope I can put out some decent stuff to help you along. I know writing this blog has helped me out a ton. So here is where I try to figure out if I should say what my week has been like so far or make a new post give me a second while I try to figure it out…
Well my week has consisted of new game, Trans Formers: War for Cybertron, commissioned work from Obsidian, and new iPhone so far! It has been a crazy and exciting week for us. I’m sure in the near future you will be hearing about each of these.
Tao of Cao:
Tell your mate that you love them, show them that you love them, talk to them like you love them, now. Don’t wait just do it now. Make them feel like if they wanted the sky to be painted yellow that you would do it for them. Even if it’s going to buy them a pair of yellow tinted shades. Don’t wait until it’s too late just do it. That’s my plea to you.
Thank you all for reading my blog and bearing with me. I hope to meet each and everyone of you before we pass on. OK, this post is getting a little emotional for me so yeah I think I’m gonna end it here! You guys rock.
I wish I had a cherry picker…
Good day to you all and Happy Father’s Day to all the fathers out there. I hope as you read this post you find your day going well! It has been a warm weekend to say the least which means there wasn’t much venturing outside in the heat. If any of you are out there in this heat please be careful and stay hydrated. On to the things from the past 3 days and todays.
“4. You have gotten better about arguing with me when I want to pay for something.”
“220. You want Lucas to beat up Daniel (Ha!Ha!).
“132. I love how your pillow smells”
“333. You would have waited for me if we had met when we were teenagers”
One of the things we do is have our own bank accounts and a joint account. We do this so that we can put in for our bills and then have our own for things we may want or need for ourselves. Also its done so when we want to surprise the other with a gift we don’t have to explain the purchase on the joint account from Amazon or Woot! I also say this because this leads to many discussions of who is going to pay for dinner, lunch, snack, quick tid bits from Walmart just to name a few! after her explaining to me that she likes to be able to do something for me so I’ve eased off on this issue some.
Who is Lucas and Daniel you might ask? Well…they are two of the guys that play on Days of our Lives. Yes the soap opera. What? You don’t watch soap operas? Oh now you’re laughing at me because I do? Well if you ever watched wrestling or any continual TV show it nothing but a soap opera that happens to not be on TV every week day. Yes, less kissing and drama but I’m just saying! Plus Lucas beating up Daniel is something he deserves!!! If you want to know why well…you’ll just have to watch!
Now you’re probably wondering what my pillow smells like, eh? Well I’ll just say and it’s quite simple, it smells like me! I love the way her pillow smells because it smells like her. Its just that comfort of the person you loves aroma to be around when they aren’t near you can just bury your face into their pillow and think of when they will be back.
OK I know the fourth is one that everyone does. You know when you just play the “What if this had happened?” game. I’m thankful for the path that we both taken it made us the person that we are and who we are thankful for. From what I hear about how she was as a teenager and I was also she was just as wonderful a person back then and she’s just gotten better as she has gotten older, I definitely would have waited.
Tao of Cao:
Sometimes it’s OK for a person to sacrifice a little defense (the colloquial term for this is called a cherry picker) to score that winning goal the pay off of it all out weights living with the thought wondering what would have happened if you did do it. This doesn’t always just apply to hockey or soccer. Sometimes you can apply that to life don’t always stay in your comfort zone shake things up every once in a while!
Brownie Sundae Cheesecake
Hi folks! Why the title of the post? Well it was random enough and a vendor took my team and I out to the Cheesecake Factory where I got a Brownie Sundae Cheesecake for desert. This is going to be one of those post where I catch up on things of the day I apparently miscount the number of days till my 35th birthday next week. So here are those items that I’m gonna run through tonight.
“188. You proved that we could get in with a raid group quickly.”
“179. Man we are photogenic together.”
“180. The elevator that was broken…we still have to go up there one day.”
“306. You don’t gripe when my parents need help.”
“238. You are the best alarm clock.”
“87. You love Sade.”
One of the things we did when we moved to our new server home and guild. Was to try and get in a raid group with our toons. We were able to find a group fairly quickly and Renee had her doubts but she went along with me and saw that it happened. Just another thing that makes me grateful that we share the same hobbies.
One of the things we like doing is taking pictures and we are quite photogenic together and I totally agree.
There’s an elevator that we need to go back and visit that was broken in a park It went up to this overlook and we always said we will go back to see this elevator. I’m sure you all will hear the story when we go.
One of the things I’ve learned is that paying forward always helps out. Helping others when you are able to always comes back in good fortune.
OK, on me being an alarm clock, I’m not sure if its the fact I can wake her up with kisses or the fact that I just wake her up, lol. I also learned one thing is, when she wakes up and she doesn’t speak, she isn’t awake lol.
Sade, oh man, she is by far one of my favorite female artist. I’m sure a lot of others agree if you haven’t heard of her I suggest you to do so!
Alright folks that’s it for tonight! See you all tomorrow!
-TOC
Be yourself.
Oh man I got a little behind and I have three things of the day to talk about today.
“226. We set our hearthstones to each other.”
“259. You speak truth.”
“116. Taco Bell is our default.”
A hearthstone is something in World of Warcraft that you use to go back to where your home is set. I know this is a totally geeky thing to do Renee and I gave each other a hearthstone and we set it to one another. Just a sign that home is where the heart is and our heart is with one another.
Another thing that we do with one another is speak truth to one another we are each other’s best friend and we try to let this be a trait in our marriage.
Oh Taco Bell how we love thee. This is always our default when we don’t know what to pick up. You would think we would get tired of this place but there are some things that are so good there. Can you say Cheesy Gordita Crunch or Beef Meximelt?
Its been a crazy few days and the rest of the week may be the same. Thank you all for stopping by and I appreciate you all reading. If you aren’t reading then it’s OK I’m glad I have a place I can go back to.
Tao of Cao:
Don’t try to be like anyone but yourself. Never hold a person up on a pedestal as perfect no person is perfect. If you do this, you set yourself up for disappointment when that person fails. Be honest with yourself and be true to yourself and be happy.
-TOC
My kids
As many of you may or may not know I have three kids from a previous marriage. They are ages 13, 10 and 5; the order goes girl, boy, and boy. They live in another state and I try my best to stay in contact with them which brings us to the thing of the day:
“325. You call your kids EVERY day.”
I try to talk to them every day to see how their day had went with school, friends and just everything overall. Recently we added video via Skype when we talk to one another and it adds a new aspect to it. It’s amazing and I’m thankful for the technology.
This has been one helluva of a week! Take it easy and have a good weekend!
Tao of Cao:
Words are like toothpaste when used incorrectly they can make you lose teeth. “How” you may ask? Well if you say something stupid to a guy he can knock your teeth out! Just saying!
TOC
No I did not forget :)
Hey folks, had a lovely day today. Today is one of those days when I can’t really share with you what this one was. I love you guys and there are some things that Renee and I do keep to ourselves. I’ll say how was your day today and what new things have you learned over the past week? The week is coming to an end and it’s always pretty good to reflect on what is going on. You guys rock and I’m thankful for all of you! We had a nice evening with the in-laws with kabobs, green beans and Corn Cakes it was amazing! I’m so glad that tomorrow is the weekend! Gonna end this evening like I do, on a good note with my lovely lady!
-TOC
Trout anyone?
Have a day of training today that should be very good. All about debugging files from a server crash, good times for sure! Kind of hard to believe that 2 weeks from today I’ll be 35. Which means I only have 14 more Things in my cookie jar. I’ll be putting all the things back in and pulling them again I have this thing with day to day calendars and anything that’s kind of like a daily ritual. With that let’s go to the thing of the day!
“167. We like to go against the crowd.”
Renee and I believe we are us and everyone is everyone else and sometimes what’s good for another couple isn’t necessary good for us. We also like to do “our” thing and make findings of our own. This isn’t to say that we foolishly do stuff just for originality sake, we communicate and figure out what we feel is best for us. We just don’t jump in the river and swim in the direction everyone else is going just because.
Tao of Cao:
Sometimes when swimming up river as trout, you have to be careful of fisherman that are specifically waiting to net you!
Business Professional Voice
A real slow start this morning so I got up to pull my thing-o-the-day and it was:
“61. I love your business professional voice on the phone. Jealous!”
I guess you’re wondering what this “Business Professional Voice’ is, well its the voice when I’m talking with folks over business and professional stuff! I guess when I talk to other folks it’s more relaxed and “free-spirited” but when I need to talk business with folks its not as relaxed as it may seem. I’m no way over the top with it but I try not to sound like the small town, country boy that I am come out too much. I keep the charm and all but not so much the sound or dialect.
I’ve often laughed at how in the professional community I speak to a lot of people via telephone, email or IM and there isn’t much face to face time. I find it funny when we all do meet and they see me for the first time and they are taken aback to what they find lol.
Tao of Cao:
Don’t judge a book by it’s cover or how someone reads it to you. Take the book yourself and you read it and let it works its way with you and figure out how that book is “speaking” to you not how someone says it is. Most time this can apply with people too. Judge people on your own merit and their actions not from what other people tell you. Be wise in this.
Lynn’s Paradise
Waiting for our server at Lynn's Paradise
On New Year’s Eve 2008 we had made reservations to go to this quirky place called Lynn’s Paradise Cafe. It was a Pajama Party, yes you heard me right, Pajama, PJ, clothes you sleep in at night party! It was a blast and resounds what the thing of the day was.
“83. We had a great New Year’s Eve at Lynn’s”
We had great food and loads of fun! You can read here to get Renee’s perspective of the trip as well as a goofy picture of me. We had loads of fun and good food. It will always be a celebration that we will always remember. Another day will be “Talk like a Pirate” day 2008 when we invaded Long John Silvers!
How much is the corn? A-buc-an-eer! har har har!!
I married one of the sexist Pirates in the world!
This will lead to my Tao of Cao today!
Tao of Cao
It doesn’t take a lot of money to make wonderful memories. Don’t let that be a reason not to have fun or show love. Don’t let the lack of money cause you to forget the true meaning of happiness, love, and family. Be it a nice thing to have but it is not the end all to be all. Also photographs capture those special days so you can always remember them.
-TOC
Moms are amazing.
So I wonder if you thought I fell off the wagon already! Well I haven’t. Today’s thing I pulled after cleaning up today is:
“206. You always tell me that I’m going to be a good Mom.”
Moms are so influential in a child’s life. When I say this I’m not discrediting us dads or anything I’m just saying that Moms are just as crucial. It takes a lot to be a mom these days as well as a dad. Today though I’ll be focusing on Moms so you men can continue reading don’t stop here! Anyways Renee has worried that she doesn’t have what it takes to be a mom, I see otherwise. In her I see exactly what it takes to be a mom: Passion, Understanding, Empathy, and Responsibility only name a few of the qualities. Its hard work and I know she has the determination to be a great Mom. I love Renee for who she is and knows that she’s an awesome stepmom and will be an awesome mom as well.
Tao of Cao:
Children love adults who show a genuine care for them and are honest. Even when adults mess up it doesn’t make an adult look by for admitting that we made a mistake and ask for apologies it shows that we are human and takes a load of of them thinking they have to be “perfect” when they get older. Children are impressionable do us all a favor and leave a good impression with them.
-TOC
Me!
Flickr Photos
More Photos
-
Archives
- November 2012 (1)
- August 2011 (1)
- July 2011 (1)
- June 2011 (1)
- May 2011 (2)
- April 2011 (1)
- February 2011 (3)
- September 2010 (1)
- July 2010 (1)
- June 2010 (16)
- November 2009 (1)
- October 2009 (15)
-
Categories
-
RSS
Entries RSS
Comments RSS
