Sorry I haven’t posted in a few days - you know how it is having lots of family around this time of year, where you spend more time fixing computers than posting blogs entries

As somewhat new parents, Liz and I have always tried to be courteous of others while out. This is especially true in restaurantsor other public places where people generally expect (and deserve) a quiet atmosphere. Two things happened yesterday though that really got under my skin and I feel the need to share/vent.

Being the typical Seattleites, when we have visitors in town we typically take a trip down to Pike Place Market. So yesterday, we piled into the cars and headed downtown, where it was cold, somewhat wet and mostly crowded (a typical Seattle November, if you ask me). Anyways, after a bit of walking around and pushing through tons of people, Tyler (who’s now just about 10 months) started to ‘complain’being in his stroller - he just wanted to be picked up.

What really got under my skin - some woman walked by, looked right at my son and said "that kid should be beaten", commenting on the fact that he was crying. I was too preoccupied with tending to Tyler to go after her, but boy, I was pissed at that lady.

As we got Tyler out of the stroller, Liz took him over to one of the vendors who were selling all sorts of fuzzy scarfs, sweaters, clothing, etc. She picked up one of the scarves and started waving it in front of Tyler who calmed down as he was both curious and amused by it (mind you, he wasn’t touching it). Before long the vendor came over and said in a completely deadpan voice: "That’s nice. It’s also $60" (even though, it looked like it was worth about $3). Liz put down the scarf and walked away.

Happy Holiday’s, huh?

Fortunately, we had a great meal over at Chinooks with the entire family later that evening which calmed me down a bit.