Digital Leon`s World

it’s been a long time and I know there and there are friends and family eager to hear news of Tre.  Well here’s the quick version -
Tre will soon complete his second trip around the sun. He’s growing like a weed, talking like a telemarketer, and running like an olympic swimmer.

I’ve got tons of photos and videos that I need to share but I thought I would start with  a shot from this weekend. As you can see he’s also texting like a champ.

I’ve had a few people ask me to upload the photos that I used as the cover page of the shoe video.

After getting his second hair cut we decided to take Tre to get his first real pair of shoes. As you can see he’s walking like a champ now and loves the mobility of his new kicks.  And now a digitalleon.com first – video! (Sorry Travis this came from a point-and-shoot so no 1080p video today) 

Breathe…. 

It’s been over 1 month since my last blog post – so much for writing more consistently.  But I now have a chance to come up for air.  The hustle and bustle of my day job combined with stress of a one year old has been playing havoc on what passes for my spare time.   I’m tired, eating poorly, and I haven’t been able to consistently exercise in months. And my poor camera has been banished to the closet to collect dust on an epic scale. Clearly the current situation is unsustainable and I’m on a collision course for an early grave if I continue things as they are. 

Reset time. 

Basically this means it’s time to put some hard core parameters on my life. The easy ones are diet and exercise. Meals and working out are now scheduled just like any other high priority meeting that I have.  In the past I would workout when I would generate some free time each day. This was much easier to do without a 14 month old.   By scheduling my workouts around times where I don’t have to care for Tre (lunch hour, days when Malaika picks him up from daycare) I can be more consistent. And by planning my meals in advance it’s easier to avoid junk food. 

Sleep

This is my principle problem – I try to make my schedule up by staying up late. There was a time when I could write code until 3:00 in the morning and turn around and head into work by 10. Those days are long gone. As much as I wish I could still function on 4 hours of sleep it’s just not possible.  So now I’m building my daily schedule around getting at least 6 hours of sleep – ideally 7 but I still have a baby to deal with. 

Taking time for myself

I realize the importance of scheduling time for myself. Just because I’m a parent doesn’t mean I stop being human. I still have interests and goals and it’s easy to let those go. I understand now that this is the path of parental insanity. I have to defend my interests – while it’s try that Tre is the number one priority it doesn’t mean I can’t schedule a few hours a week to read, take photographs, or just play Left 4 Dead on the xbox. 

The combo

The trick to all of this is going to be the combo. There are only so many hours of the day and by insisting on sleep I’m cutting down the supply of usable time.  Where I can – I need to combine activities so I can accomplish things more efficiently. Instead of walking the dog we will go for a run, running errands at the mall – take the baby and give Malaika air cover for her activities. Is the baby playing with his toys? – Pull out the laptop/smart phone and prune the ever growing mountain of email.  

That’s all I promise to blog more – and since everyone loves photos of the boy here’s a nice shot of the boy wearing an electronic arts t-shirt. Perhaps my EA friends can hire him for the next John Madden Football ad campaign. (Just kidding…well unless you guys are interested)

We think he is but we need our friends and family to help us out and vote.  We’ve entered Tre into a local contest to find the cutest baby in Seattle. Honestly I think that this kid is cute enough to actually win this thing.   Malaika chose his halloween photo which will hopefully be enough to push him over the top. 

Visit this link: http://babyidol.movin925.com/photos/vote/1010/ to visit the local radio station and vote.They do require you to create an account but that only takes a few seconds. You can vote 10x a day so please give Tre all 10 of your votes, and don’t forget to come back and vote the next day as well.  It’s easy – you can do it while you drink your coffee! 

We are counting on you guys!

Apologies to the late Notorious B-I-G.
It’s a new year and we’ve been super busy since we’ve returned from our holiday vacation.  The Seattle Pryor’s had a marathon 2 week vacation spanning Cleveland and Michigan.  While we enjoyed being among family  - it’s going to be a while before we try a trip of that magnitude again. Traveling with an infant is always challenging – but traveling with a weeks worth of luggage in bad weather during the holidays is a much bigger ball of wax.

During our trip a family member mentioned that Tre reminded them of the album cover from Biggie’s first album. So of course I had to take him to the studio and create my own spin on it. So I present The Notorious T-R-E and his album – ready to eat. 

Stay tuned for more photos of the vacation and some great photography work that I’ve been doing.

Last night was an amazing experience for me. While I’m not going to get into politics in this blog – I will make it clear that my vote for Obama had nothing to do with the fact that he is African American.

However that fact is very significant none-the-less. Never in my wildest dreams did I believe that America would elect an African American president. This is something that I have regarded as literally impossible for my entire life. But today that barrier has been shattered.

During Obama’s acceptance speech I noticed my son was transfixed on him. (I’m sure he thought the colors were pretty…) And I began to think about him and his life. There is literally nothing that this child can’t do. The ultimate glass ceiling in American has been conquered. Despite all of the hatred that was leveled against this man he pulled out a victory with dignity, class. and style.

I can’t help but to think about my family line. The great uncle who was one of the first African Americans to graduate from Case Western Reserve University with a degree in Electrical Engineering – only to find out that no one would hire him. My father – Tre’s namesake who lived through world war two and the civil rights movement, who was tasked with desegregating Cleveland public schools after Brown vs Board of Education. My grandparents who are in their 90s. To think about the totality of their experiences – Things that happened not hundreds of years ago – but within a few generations. And today we have our first African American president. I am moved.

Today I watched history – and while Obama and the democrats need to put their noses to the grindstone and get things done – yesterday was an amazing accomplishment. It’s one of those events where I will remember exactly where I was when I heard the news. And I will remember looking down at my son and thinking…..

Tre – the world is truly yours now. The potential is there – what will you make of that opportunity?
I can’t wait to find out.