If you need to travel with kids, rent a car dammit.

** NOTE ** I typed this up months ago, but didn't publish it for some reason - I apologize.

I was going through my emails this morning as I was getting ready for a trip to Houston and came across this commercial that a friend sent several weeks ago. I sometimes never read forwarded emails, much less click on the links that someone sent me anymore, but occasionally I get the inclination to do so…

Up comes this commercial with a man walked through the grocery store with his son. The child starts putting a bunch of candy in the shopping cart, and the man immediately takes the candy out and puts it back on the shelf. After going back and forth a couple of times, the child then decides to throw a tantrum and goes on a tirade throughout the store, complete with the onlooker stare and the embarrassment that goes with it. The camera pans back to the man, and the caption pops up on the screen – "Why you should wear condoms."

No further commentary needed on that one, but it does bring me to what prompted me to write this in the first place. I'm sitting on the plane on the way to George Bush Intercontinental Airport (why the hell International wasn't enough I'll never figure out) in one of those middle seats – fortunate for me the ladies on each side of me were very attractive (but I digress) – and the kids sitting behind me and to the left were some of the loudest, annoying brats I've had to listen to through my noise-cancelling headphones. The kids behind me had some loud game or video system that kept on making me wonder if I had my MP3 player up too loud. Thank goodness "the Captain has turned on the seatbelt signs indicating we are making our final approach" and the kid that kept running up and down the aisle will have to sit down.

Don't get me wrong – I love kids, and want some in the future. When I grew up, when I was told to sit down and shut up, I knew my parents meant it. I knew my grandparents meant it. I rarely moved until they said I could. Plain and simple. If I acted half the way I remembered acting when I was a child, I now realize why my parents used to get all kinds of compliments about my behavior. I knew that if I acted up in public, my parents were going to act worse when we got home.

If at first you don't succeed...

Timbaland's Intro:
It's been a long time,
we shouldn't have left you left you,
without a dope beat to step to step to, step to, step to

Verse 1:
What would you do, to get to me?
What would say, to have your way?
Would you give up or try again,
If I hesitate to let you in?
Now would you be yourself, or play role?
Tell all the boys, or keep it low?
If I say no, would you turn away,
Or play me off or would you stay (oooohhh)...

Chorus:
If at first you don't succeed
(first you don't succeed),
then dust yourself off and try again
You can dust if off and try again, try again
'Cause if at first you don't succeed
(at first you don't succeed)
You can dust it off and try again,
dust yourself off and try again, try again,

Verse 2:
I'm into you, you into me,
but I can't let it go, so easily,
Not 'till I see, where this could be,
could be eternally, or just week,
You know our chemistry, is off the chain
It's perfect now, but will it change?
This ain't a yes, this ain't a no
Just do your thang,
and we'll see how it goes (oooohhh)...

Chorus

Bridge:
See you don't wanna throw it all away,
I might be shy on the first day,
but what about the next day (huh, huh, huh, huh)
See you don't wanna throw it all away,
I might be buggin' on the first day but
what about the next day (huh, huh, huh, huh)

Chorus

Timbaland's Outro:
It's been a long time, we shouldn't have left you left you,
without a dope beat to step to step to, step to, step to

"Try Again" - Aaliyah

A bit corny, I know - but hey it has been a while, right? What can I say - things have been busy for me. Traveling for work, traveling for pleasure, and working on a new project - my parent's old house.

I would have moved into this house a long time ago had it not been for the tenants that were in the house... these same tenants were responsible for setting some furniture on fire in the basement... and had the nerve to try and tell investigators that the house had faulty wiring...

It's quite a humbling experience to see the house that you grew up in get damaged in a fire by some people that obviously didn't care about the place I once called home.

I have a long way to go with this project, and I certainly have already learned a valuable and costly lesson or two... but with any luck, I think that I have turned a corner, and things are going to work out.