Today I had “the procedure”.  You know that one that stops you from procreating, that one. No more little Rumans coming from this man.

My “oh crap” moment happened while I was sitting in the waiting room to be called back for the procedure. I overheard the receptionist talking to a nurse, “this lady wants to schedule a reversal” she said. The nurse hollered back “She needs to have the $4,000 up front before we can schedule it.”

What?

About 5 minutes before that I signed a paper saying “You understand this procedure is irreversible.”

“Okay, which one is it”  I thought.

“Mike Ruman … c’mon back.”

Looking back I laugh a bit, but not too much cause I’m still in pain. Things like this happen to me a lot. My life is filled with irony. But, I like irony. And I like my life.

The procedure was not as bad as I thought. Even the initial numbing wasn’t bad. I’ve heard the second day can be worse, so I’m not gonna say I’m in the clear quite yet.

Now that it’s done I can reflect a little bit. I thought I’d have more emotions before today. I still don’t consider myself old, or even an adult, yet I’m done making babies? Maybe it just hasn’t set in yet.

Either way I have more of an appreciation of what women, and in particular my wife Lisa go through for child bearing. I am by no means comparing my procedure with child bearing, but I do know what it feels like to be sore down “there”. And then to have to take care of a baby AFTER you birthed it is incredible.

My blog is random. This post is filed under Parenting. I hope it fits.

First off this is not a resolution list. It’s just 10 books I’m gonna read this year…or at least give them a try. I’m not afraid to put a book down and move on to the next one.

In no particular order.

• The Pursuit of God (A.W.Tozer) – I’ve wanted to read this author for a while. My dad recommended Divine Conquest but the library didn’t have that one. Guess I’ll have to find that one elsewhere.
• Forgotten God (Francis Chan) – I was really challenged by Francis’ first book Crazy Love. Hoping this one does the same.
• Made to Stick (Chip Heath and Dan Heath) – I just finished this book in December but I think this is one I’m going to need to read every year. Probably pick this up again in June.
• The Bible -  Nuff said. Probably going to stick in the New Testament this year.
• Slide:ology (Nancy Duarte) – I flipped through this one a few months back. This one I need to buy and keep on the shelf.
• The Witching Hour (Ann Rice) – I promised a buddy of mine I’d read this book. Hopefully it’s not too scary for me.
• Free Ebooks (TBD) – I’m sure I’ll read 5 – 8 ebooks on business and marketing. Just throwing these on the list to motivate myself to do so.
• TBD
• TBD
• TBD

Well, there is my list. As you see I added a couple TBDs. Those are for you to recommend books to me. Got any?

I’ve been slow to the electronic book market. Well, I guess most of us have seeing as ebooks count for less than 4% of the overall book market (according to AAP).

But, for Christmas I got an ereader, inparticluar Sony’s Digital Reader Pocket Edition – Silver (PRS300SC).

My first impressions:

• It’s small
  This device has a 5″ display. That’s small. Maybe I was expecting something a little bigger, but it’s small and I’ll get used to that.
• Easy to read
  The device reads pretty easily. Page down to finish a page, page right to turn. Easy, right?
• There are lots of free books out there to download
  The Pike’s Peak Library system rocks! They are tons of ebooks to download…for FREE! Being able to download native PDF’s to read is also pretty sweet.
• Traditional books aren’t going anywhere
  The ereader is great. But, I still prefer a book…book. You know, a book you can pick up, read, put a book mark in, set by your bed for later. Books. The ereader is great for holding multiple books at once, but I don’t think my love for traditional books will go away.

Overall I like my new ereader. It will take some time to adjust to, but I think I’m going to like it. Hey, having 100s of books at your beckon call is pretty sweet, right?