What I Do for a Living

I spend a lot of time on the road, working with my clients to improve their businesses but not sure many people, family included, have any idea what I actually do. Fortunately the smart folks at my firm have put together a short video outlining what my job entails. If you're interested, check out the following link and let me know what you think.

If that gets you fired up about consulting and you want to see more examples of the kinds of things I do, feel free to read through the publication I co-authored last month. Should be a very exciting read for those of you who are either accountants, CFOs, proud parents or people with waaay to much time on their hands.

Bucking the Trend

So we just made our final payment on our Honda, making us perhaps some of the only people in Orange County who've elected to forgo car payments for the more finer things in life (e.g. childcare, diapers, food, water, etc.). Given how things are looking on the economic front (two of my former mortgage banking clients simply no longer exist), we figured the right thing to do now would be to save up a little. Besides, after November we'll probably need to shell out a bit more in taxes to either 1) fund Obama's planned increases in social spending and welfare programs or 2)  kick in a bit more to help McCain extend the Iraq war's reach to Afghanistan and reignite the cold war with Russia on Sarah Palin's doorstep.

That said,  as we look around, we're starting to see signs that perhaps we're not the only ones in Orange County being a little more cautious these days. Therefore, thought we'd share a few data points we've collected recently that indicate that tougher times may be upon us. So without further ado, let's take a look and see how your locale compares:

1. We just about hit parity on the number of daily Lamborgini to Mercedes Smart Car sightings (seeing about 10 of each daily). Used to be no self-respecting Newport Coaster would be caught dead in car shorter than they were tall but  guess even the wealthiest among us are looking for better MPG.
   
   
2. Home builders are seriously slashing prices and throwing in huge, six-figure incentives for things like landscaping and designer options at The Tides in Crystal Cove. Better hurry and get your name on the list. Deals won't last long at these prices.

3. We tried to save a bit on pizza the other night by picking one up at Costco instead of getting a more expensive one from Gina's but, to our surprise, were informed that we should have "reserved" a pizza in advance and that all their pizzas were spoken for.

4. People are driving less and traffic's not too bad. Only took me 2 hours to drive from Irvine to Santa Monica the other day.  Pretty good for the 50 mile trek.

5. Saw my first "sign-twirler" on the corner promoting a Sushi Bar. Must be a lot of people that are now just opting to stay home with a can of "Chicken of the Sea" instead.

6. Church is packed.  To get Andrew into his normal, although over-subscribed, Sunday School class last weekend, Leslie had to escalate things to a higher power (the Sunday School Director...not the higher power).

7. Valet parking prices at John Wayne Airport just increased 10%. Can you believe I'll have to walk all the way from the parking garage to my gate now?

8. Local high-end restaurants are filing for bankruptcy due to increased costs and lower patronage. We went to these places all the time before we had kids. If everyone else who bought a house in Irvine 4-5 years ago had kids like us shortly thereafter, then I think I know why these places are struggling. Mental note - pay attention to demographics when launching a business.

9. Monthly costs for Kindercare have risen to about the same price as our fixed-rate mortgage. Wish we could have gotten fixed-price childcare.

10. Finding that the most fun our family has these days is when we take a few juice boxes and a shovel down to the beach, dig a hole and fill it up with water, then throw in a bunch of rocks.  Total cost?  Free.

Well that about sums it up for now. We'll keep you posted on how things are progressing but we're curious to hear about what you're seeing in your town(s) and what you're doing (if anything) to prepare. In the meantime, we've got some of those "finer things" to attend to - Owen needs another diaper change.

Grosser than gross

We spent all day Sunday cleaning out our garage and washing it out with a bleach solution because house flies had invaded.  I'm still traumatized - I don't want to talk about it.

Slippery Slope

Two wheelin', originally uploaded by leslie_capron.

Andrew is in gymnastics class, phonics class, music class and Sunday school. Too much for a three year old?

Great moments in parenting!

5 minutes before the trip to the emergency room, originally uploaded by leslie_capron.

Last Thursday after a successful evening of gymnastics and baths I was messing around with my camera and snapping away at the boys trying to see if f/1.4 is wide enough to take flash-less pictures of the kids at night. (It's a very typical scene around here: the boys doing what they do and me trying to document as much as possible because I don't want to miss a minute of it and I don't want to forget a second of it.)

I was taking pictures of the boys on the couch, capturing the athletic activities they do every night on the couch because I thought it would be a cute blog post. I am about 5 feet away from the boys while they are wrestling around on the couch with Go! Diego Go! breaks every few minutes.  During a Diego lull in the action, I go into the kitchen for something and about a second later I hear Owen let loose with a LOUD scream. My heart skips a beat.

- See that window in the picture? Just out of the frame are sill-less window ledges. There's no rounded edges of a sill, just the sharp edges.

Owen had hit his head on that edge and made an inch and a half gash in his forehead. 

I took one look at his head and knew it was more than a bandaid could handle. In about 30 seconds I made the decision we had to go to the emergency room. I was by myself, so I was in super "i can handle this" mode. I grabbed some shorts for Andrew, and got both kids in the car. Andrew is a observant child and picked up right away that he just needed to do what I asked - no questions. And he did. I was so proud of him.

We got in the car and drove to the hospital. Owen was very calm and even fell asleep on the way - AND I promptly woke him up. No unconscious babies with a head wound! 

We got to the hospital and I left the car with the valet (got to love Orange County hospitals). Went right up and got triaged. Owen was alert and I was calming down.  The bleeding had practically stopped and he was just interested in what was going on around him. A few minutes later Eric arrived from the airport.

We were seen by a doctor about 30 minutes after arriving. Stitches. Owen had to be strapped down in a toddler straight jacket- that was awful.  The lidocaine shots right into the cut was awful.  The actual stitching wasn't too bad, but by this point Owen was just MAD and screamed the entire time.   In 15 minutes he was all stitched up and free.  Owen was back to himself as soon as it was all done.   

I have a feeling this is just the beginning of such things with Owen.  He's the kind to jump right in and not really worry about what's going to happen next.

This isn't the post I imaged I'd write when I was ignoring their bed time and just letting them rough-house around.  

Hello!

Sandy toes, originally uploaded by leslie_capron.

It's been crazy here at the Socal Caprons - Murder trials, emergency room visits, brand new two-wheelers, lots of time at the beach, new words, new camera lens, babies sleeping in their own beds..! Whew!

The blogging lag has been record-breaking. I'll be making up for that.