Big changes coming my way.

[AudioDoctor]

I found out recently that I am going to be a father. My SO and I are very excited and looking forward to starting our family. I didn't realize it till recently but I really want to be a Dad even though I have no idea how to be a Dad.

 

After the initial fear wore off (I've never changed a diaper for crying out loud! What do I know about being a Dad?) I started thinking about the many changes this is going to bring to my life. All of them good, in my opinion, even getting rid of my main system, which is the one relevant to this forum. To be honest, I do probably 70% of my listening here at my computer anyway so don't really find it to be too big of a concession, my office system of the McIntosh MAC7200 and Sonus Faber Olympica 1s sounds really good too. Good enough for me to stop typing frequently while typing this and just listen to the music.  When Jesus adds the optical input to the Signature Rendu SE that will get added, my Technics SL1200G will stay also. The rest will be going somehow. 

 

By the way, Emily King (the artist I am listening to right now) is an amazing musician. Reminds me a lot of Prince. Go listen to her. Amazing live too, I saw her the other night at the Fine Line here in Minneapolis. A show I found out about via ROON by the way...

 

Keeping the Porsche @Ralf11 so don't bother asking how much. 😉

[wgscott]

Congratulations!  I never thought it would happen to me, either, but I kept going through the motions.

[AudioDoctor]

2 minutes ago, wgscott said:

Congratulations!  I never thought it would happen to me, either, but I kept going through the motions.

 

Thanks Bill.

[wgscott]

It is almost mesmerizing:

 

http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/

 

 

[AudioDoctor]

Wow, that's a lot of people being born and dying.

 

edit: also a data geeks heaven!

[Ralf11]

Congratulations! 

 

 

Porsche thoughtfully provides kid seats in their cars... 2 of them.

[AudioDoctor]

30 minutes ago, Ralf11 said:

Congratulations! 

 

 

Porsche thoughtfully provides kid seats in their cars... 2 of them.

 

Well, one in my SO's opinion... 😉

 

This might be the incentive I need to get a 911 as well.

[Paul R]

Super congrats Jason! You will be a good dad! 

But, you need a Jeep. 🤪

[Melvin]

Or a minivan 🚐 

 

CONGRATS!

[cambridgehank]

Congratulations.  No more MB sedans, you will now go to a mini van lol🤣

[wgscott]

The Toyota Emasculator minivan served us well.

[AudioDoctor]

5 hours ago, Melvin said:

Or a minivan 🚐 

 

CONGRATS!

 

4 hours ago, cambridgehank said:

Congratulations.  No more MB sedans, you will now go to a mini van lol🤣

 

3 hours ago, wgscott said:

The Toyota Emasculator minivan served us well.

 

 

Oh lord no, I have the GLS 550 so I don't need a Minivan.

[AudioDoctor]

Thanks everyone!

[bluesman]

16 hours ago, AudioDoctor said:

I have no idea how to be a Dad.

 

First, congratulations! We've survived the growth of both our sons to what passes for adulthood these days with more love and praise than any negative feelings (on both sides, I presume).  Of course, the first 35 years were the hardest!  Now that they're both well past that, we wear our rose colored glasses with impunity  

 

No one has any idea how to be a dad - parenting is entrusted to rank amateurs. There's no education, certification or licensing.  There are no owners' guides, shop manuals, parts diagrams, or warranties. But somehow, most of us make it through the gauntlet with our basics intact.  Enjoy every minute of the experience from the beginning.  It's truly something you'll treasure with your SO - if your relationship is sound, the collective experience will bind you even closer.  I hope you achieve the true and lasting joys my wife and I found in our first decades together. We're in year 47 and looking forward to 47 more (which will be even better because both kids are off the dole).

[wgscott]

2 hours ago, AudioDoctor said:

Thanks everyone!

 

Just remember, the foetus only becomes a human being when it graduates from medical school.

[AudioDoctor]

20 minutes ago, bluesman said:

 

First, congratulations! We've survived the growth of both our sons to what passes for adulthood these days with more love and praise than any negative feelings (on both sides, I presume).  Of course, the first 35 years were the hardest!  Now that they're both well past that, we wear our rose colored glasses with impunity  

 

No one has any idea how to be a dad - parenting is entrusted to rank amateurs. There's no education, certification or licensing.  There are no owners' guides, shop manuals, parts diagrams, or warranties. But somehow, most of us make it through the gauntlet with our basics intact.  Enjoy every minute of the experience from the beginning.  It's truly something you'll treasure with your SO - if your relationship is sound, the collective experience will bind you even closer.  I hope you achieve the true and lasting joys my wife and I found in our first decades together. We're in year 47 and looking forward to 47 more (which will be even better because both kids are off the dole).

 

 

Thank you, that's a very nice thing to say. Our relationship is sound and only trending upwards! I am looking forward to a long life with her.

[AudioDoctor]

1 minute ago, wgscott said:

 

Just remember, the foetus only becomes a human being when it graduates from medical school.

 

Considering the mutual medical backgrounds of me and my SO, thats a given.

[diecaster]

8 minutes ago, wgscott said:

 

Just remember, the foetus only becomes a human being when it graduates from medical school.

 

Oh, with the single payer medical insurance and Socialism on its way in, the medical profession may not be the way to go.....

[bluesman]

23 minutes ago, diecaster said:

 

Oh, with the single payer medical insurance and Socialism on its way in, the medical profession may not be the way to go.....

Here's a word (or three) of unsolicited advice from a septuagenarian surgeon regarding the pushing of offspring or anyone else toward a career in medicine: let them make their own decisions.  Medicine never made many millionaires anyway, except in a few highly compensated specialties.  It was often the opportunities to invest a healthy but by no means top bracket income that took some docs over the top.  Physician income is now dropping steadily, largely because organized medicine has stuck its head in the sand and hoped things would get better. Instead, we need to identify our sustainable competitive advantages and differentiate ourselves from the many excellent providers who now provide a sizable chunk of medical care.  There is and always has been only one sound reason to become a doctor: If being a doctor is right for you, it will be the most wonderful and rewarding life imaginable. Income considerations are moot - and you'll always do well enough to live comfortably and raise a family with no more than the usual stress.

 

You will know the joys of learning and of acquiring and using your knowledge, skill and experience to make the world a better place.  You will experience (and, if you're smart, come to understand and appreciate) true intimacy in ways that few others are privileged to know.  I've been granted the right to cut into thousands of people who trusted me to use my judgment to give them the best odds of the best possible outcome for the problems that brought them to me.  Human relationships simply don't get more intimate.  Work relationships are similarly special, given that I've labored side by side for many hours at a time with nurses, techs, other docs to save trauma victims, remove complex cancers and rebuild large parts of heads, faces and necks. Many of those co-workers have saved my butt a few times too, as have I for them.  And we're all proud as hell of what we've accomplished, even as we try hard to get better in every way.

 

I've operated on 3 generations of dozens of families and 4 of a few. Many patients and their families still send me holiday greetings and call to ask my advice.  I've taught thousands of medical students and helped to train hundreds of residents and fellows, and I hear from many of them throughout their lives and mine.  This is simply and truly wonderful, and I wouldn't change a single career decision I've made if I had it to do again.

 

But if none of the above connects with someone, they have no business becoming a doctor - there are better ways to make money. We neither encouraged nor dissuaded either son from medicine. They concluded on their own that it was not for either of them, and I applaud their decisions. They're both doing fine and making more money at about 40 than I did - and they're as happy with their choices as I am with mine.

[AudioDoctor]

@bluesman I agree 100% with that. If I were a subjectivist I would say I agree 1000%.

 

 

 

Edit: I haven't said anything because basically it's no ones business here but I have not been practicing medicine for a little while. I went ahead and got my Commercial Pilots License and am flying a private jet for a friend of the family and his business. Money was never a consideration for this or for becoming a Dr. The intellectual challenge was the motivation for both. I needed a break from the ER and sick kids and dysfunctional families/administration. It wears on me. Maybe someday I will go back, or go into private practice. I have not decided yet. SO we're clear, I would never push a kid to do anything. Like my parents, it's better to let them choose on their own and just love and support them.

[Jud]

1 hour ago, bluesman said:

rebuild large parts of heads

 

I can think of a person or two who might be a candidate - not speaking of cosmetic surgery.

[bluesman]

1 hour ago, Jud said:

"rebuild large parts of heads".........I can think of a person or two who might be a candidate - not speaking of cosmetic surgery.

 

Aw, c'mon Jud - headless is often the way to go.

 

[Ralf11]

8 hours ago, AudioDoctor said:

.... I have not been practicing medicine for a little while...

 

 

ok, I just need to check and ask to make it wasn't one of those med. school yearbook things...

[bluesman]

4 hours ago, Ralf11 said:

ok, I just need to check and ask to make it wasn't one of those med. school yearbook things...

 

It’s much worse than that. WAPO has pictures of him listening to his 8 track tapes.....and smiling at his boombox.

[mav52]

I really enjoyed being a dad, of course my girls are now 36 and 32.  Both out of college , have awesome jobs and I'm a new grandpa. 

 

SUV worked great.