Aloha Friday Archives - Page 14 of 34

Aloha Friday: How Spontaneous Are You?

September 23, 2011 TechyDad Aloha Friday

Today, B will embark on a great adventure. This was put together last minute, unlike other trips we’ve taken where we had months to plan. This really isn’t like us. To us, spontaneous means deciding at the last minute which restaurant to eat out at, not whether one of us will travel to New York City in a couple of days!

Of course, I fully support B’s decision to go. More than that, I urged her to go. She’s been feeling confined lately. She spent the whole summer having to deal with two boys every single day. From when I left in the morning until I returned in the late afternoon/early evening, she would need to deal with their bickering everywhere they went.

Even when they went to school, she didn’t get much freedom. JSL gets out of school at 1pm, so B only has four hours to herself. Add in household chores that she does and she has very little time for herself. This will be a good chance for her to recharge her batteries.

My Aloha Friday question for today is: Have you ever done anything spontaneous?

Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the linky there if you are participating.

Aloha #106

Aloha Friday: Medical Avoidance

September 16, 2011 TechyDad Aloha Friday, Medical

As I mentioned yesterday, I tend to avoid getting medical attention for myself. It isn’t a macho “I don’t need no stinkin’ doctors” kind of thing. Instead, it’s more of a “I need to do all this stuff for everyone else, how can I take time out to see the doctor/take medicine?” Sometimes it’s also a “We have so many expenses, how can I spend more money at the doctor’s for me?” thing. If it’s something serious like antibiotics, I’ll take my medicine on time and if I have a fever, I have no problem going to the doctor. It’s the little things (insect bites, allergies, nose bleeds) that I avoid seeing a doctor about or taking medicine for.

My Aloha Friday question for today is: Do you avoid seeing the doctor or taking medicine because you are too busy doing things for other people or to try to save money?

Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the linky there if you are participating.

Aloha #105

Aloha Friday: Three Years of Blogging

September 9, 2011 TechyDad Aloha Friday, Anniversary, Blogging, Social Media, TechyDad.com

Tomorrow is my Blogoversary. Since I usually don’t post on Saturdays, I’m going to celebrate it today. It’s been a wild ride since the early days. Back then, I didn’t post often. Part of it was because I hated using WordPress’ Admin panel to edit blog posts. Part of it was because I’d feel like my blog posts weren’t reaching anybody.

Over time, I found Zoundry Raven and then Windows Live Writer. This helped with the composing of posts. Suddenly, creating blog posts wasn’t a chore. Recently, I even hooked my blog up to get mobile photos from my phone. So now, instead of using TwitPic or a similar service, I can post a photo right to my blog while on the go.

As far as readership goes, I reminded myself that I couldn’t expect to open a blog and suddenly get thousands of readers. I dove into the social media community. I commented on other blogs. Of course, I also tried to put only the very best content on my blog. (It doesn’t matter how much “promoting” you do. If the content’s not good, people won’t come back.) Slowly, but surely, the number of readers to my blog increased.

I owe a lot of exposure to my wife also. She got into blogging before me (well, at least under this pseudonym) so her “social reach” was far greater than mine. When she promoted a post of mine, it went further than if I promoted it alone. I believe the gap between us has slimmed a bit, though she still has over a thousand more Twitter followers than I do.

It’s been a wild ride these past 3 years. I wonder what the next 3 years will bring.

My Aloha Friday question for today is: What do you think the future of blogging/social media will look like? Where do you think we’ll be in 3 years?

Don’t forget to enter my Hot Wheels Nitro Speeders giveaway!

Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the linky there if you are participating.

Aloha #104

Aloha Friday: Away From Kid-Time

September 2, 2011 TechyDad Aloha Friday, Anniversary, B, Disney, Marriage, Parenting, Vacation

As you read this, B and I will be enjoying time in Disney World to celebrate our 10th anniversary. (This post has been scheduled, however. Therefore, as I write this, our trip hasn’t begun yet.) Meanwhile, my boys will be (hopefully) enjoying time with my parents. Yes, we will be spending 5 days without our kids. This will be the longest that we’ll both be away from them. (The second longest was BlogHer last year.) Part of us will surely be missing them being sweet, cute, and/or excited, but this time will be spent relaxing and enjoying each other’s company.

The above words were written as we planned for a wonderful 10th anniversary trip in Disney without the kids. Instead, Hurricane Irene hit. Our original plan was to drive to my parents’ house on Sunday, stay until Tuesday and then fly out leaving my parents in charge of the kids.

Let me repeat part of that. The original plan was to drive to my parents’ house on Sunday. My parents’ house on Long Island. My parents’ house on Long Island that Irene was bearing down on. Yeah, that wasn’t going to happen.

Then, we decided to wait for Monday to see whether we should cancel or go. However, attempting to plan for two very different scenarios (stuck at home for a week or away from home for a week) was too stressful. Plus, if we lost power, we might not be *able* to cancel in time. We finally decided to cancel and focus on staying safe until Irene passed.

Thankfully, both Disney and Southwest Airlines were great about refunding our money (Disney) and giving us credit for another plane trip (Southwest). Hopefully, we’ll get a chance to take a sans kid romantic vacation sometime soon.

My Aloha Friday question was going to be: What is the longest that you’ve been away from your kids?

Considering that our vacation was cancelled, though, I’ll ask: Have you ever had to change your vacation plans due to weather?

Actually, why not answer both?

Don’t forget to enter my Hot Wheels Nitro Speeders giveaway!

Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the linky there if you are participating.

Aloha #103

Aloha Friday: Earthquakes and Hurricanes, Oh My!

August 26, 2011 TechyDad Aloha Friday, Weather

On Tuesday, an earthquake struck Virginia. The shaking was felt all the way to New York. For some reason, though, I didn’t feel anything.

While this was going on, Hurricane Irene threatened to hit Florida. This brought back memories of growing up on Long Island. There were two hurricanes that I can remember: Gloria and Bob. Gloria slammed us hard. Trees were knocked over, cars were smashed and houses had extensive damage. A tree in our yard fell over towards my room. At the last second, a gust of wind blew it to the one safe spot on our lawn. (I was in my room at the time and might have been injured had it hit.) Down the block, a neighbor had 2 cars in his driveway: a brand new one and an old one. The old one suffered no damage, but the brand new one was smashed by a falling tree.

Years later, Hurricane Bob hit Long Island. This one wasn’t as severe as Gloria. I remember my mother went out during the storm to deliver some food to a family who was in mourning. Looking out my front door, I saw the mailman deliver the mail. I guess “during rain, sleet and snow” includes hurricanes! Yes, I ran out in the intense winds to retrieve the mail. There’s something exhilarating about running through 75mph winds.

There’s nothing exhilarating about Irene, however. We had plans to see my parents, but Irene is headed right for them. This throws our entire plan up in the air. I hate having to “wing it.” I like the order of a plan. Even worse, if the hurricane hits my parents full-force, there might be flooding and/or evacuations. There’s so much uncertainty all around. The whole situation’s got me stressed out.

My Aloha Friday question is: What earthquakes, hurricanes, or other natural disasters have you experienced?

Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the linky there if you are participating.

Aloha #102

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