Aloha Friday Archives - Page 23 of 34

Aloha Friday: Online Versus Offline Socialization

October 29, 2010 TechyDad Aloha Friday, Bullies

This week, NHL had swim lessons. Usually, we all go and I play with JSL while NHL learns how to swim. This time, though, NHL’s Hebrew school had an open house at the same time. So we divided the chores. B went to the open house, JSL went to stay with B’s parents and I went with NHL to his swim class.

While watching NHL go in and out of the pool, I looked around me. I was surrounded by parents of kids around NHL’s age. This was my peer group. I always complain of not having any offline friends to hang out with, so why not make some friends here?

Yet, there I sat. I was tweeting effortlessly with people online, but offline I barely managed a two sentence small-talk with someone who I overheard was sending his child to the same child care center that NHL went to.

I had a similar experience in BlogHer. There were plenty of decent conversations that I engaged in, but when I was outside of my comfort zone, I just sat there and kept quiet. I wanted to join in the conversations, but it was like my brain froze up and could offer nothing to converse about.

At least partially as a result of the bullying I suffered through, I’ve always struggled with face-to-face communications. I’ll be paralyzed in fear that something I say will be completely wrong, inappropriate, unfunny, etc. I’ve worked hard to suppress and surmount that fear, but parts of it will always be with me. It’s just one of the ways that bullying has made me weaker, not stronger.

Meanwhile, the Internet has been a godsend. By removing the face-to-face aspect, I become a much more confident and social individual. If I send out a tweet and realize it was a bad joke, I shrug my shoulders and send out another tweet.

My Aloha Friday question for today is: Do you find that you are much more social online than offline?

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 McLinky there if you are participating.

Aloha #61

Aloha Friday: Blogger Family Vacations

October 22, 2010 TechyDad Aloha Friday, Vacation

Right after BlogHer 2010, I started thinking about our trip. Although I loved the sessions and meeting company representatives, I wished I had more time to see the sights in New York City. With Disney Social Media Moms, the kids and I would go through the theme parks and have fun while B was in conferences. I began to envision a blogger get-together that was more vacation than conference.

I pictured going to some vacation spot (be it New York City, Disney World, or someplace else) with my family. Meanwhile, other bloggers would time their trips to that spot for the same time and hotel. Sightseeing trips or other vacation activities would be organized so that the families could stick together and socialize. (Going as a group might get us good group rates.)

I haven’t done anything to make my vision a reality just yet. I don’t even know if anyone would be interested.

Thus, my Aloha Friday question for today is: If there was a Social Media Family Vacation Club, would you be interested in attending it?

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 MckLinky there if you are participating.

Aloha #60

Aloha Friday: Minimum Age For Superheroes

October 15, 2010 TechyDad Aloha Friday, Geeky Pursuits, JSL, NHL

Being a geek, I love superheroes. I grew up watching He-Man, Superfriends, Spider-Man, Batman: The Animated Series, Superman and more. Super powered individuals who protected the innocent from the forces of evil resonated deeply with me and I spent plenty of time pretending I was super-powered as well. It should come as no surprise that, when I became a parent, I wanted to introduce my children to the world of superheroes as well.

I can’t remember exactly NHL’s first encounter with superheroes, but it might have been a Spiderman kids’ book. After that, I expanded to Batman: The Brave and the Bold and Ben 10 (both the original series, Alien Force and now Ultimate Alien). NHL and JSL love running around pretending to turn into aliens. I even went online with them to the Superhero Generator to let them make their own heroes.

Unfortunately, I’m not sure if the world of superheroes is having a bad effect on them. Their playtime together seems to revolve around them “turning into” superheroes and fighting each other. NHL will also “turn into” a superhero to ignore us/run away from us instead of listening to us.

Part of it is their normal development, I’m sure. After all, siblings fighting isn’t abnormal. Neither are kids who want to do their own thing without their parents telling them not to for whatever reason (dangerous, no time, homework to do, etc). Still, I find myself wondering how much their normal development has to do with it and how much has to do with the folks in spandex and capes.

Thus, my Aloha Friday question for today is: At what age did you introduce your children to superheroes?

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 MckLinky there if you are participating.

Aloha #59

Aloha Friday: 101010

October 8, 2010 TechyDad Aloha Friday, B, Life, Life Decisions, Marriage

On Sunday, it will be October 10th, 2010, or 10/10/10. The geek in me couldn’t let 101010 go by without a special post. Since I don’t post on Sundays usually, I made my Tuesday post: Plus or Minus 10 Years.

This marked 3 firsts for me. It was my first Linky and the first post I created a button for. Most significantly, though, it was the first time I really apologized (in a public fashion) for something stupid I did when B and I were engaged. You’ll have to read my post to see what it was. (Hey, you didn’t expect me to just tell you, now did you?) Needless to say, I thought I was doing the right thing at the time but hindsight (being 20/20 and all) has shown me how wrong I was.

Thus, my Aloha Friday question for today is: Have you ever done something that affected a loved one that you thought was the right thing at the time only to realize later was the wrong action?

After you answer my Aloha Friday question, stop by my LuLu.com Photo Book giveaway and B’s CardsDirect $50 gift card 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 #58

Aloha Friday: Internet/Social Media Breaks?

October 1, 2010 TechyDad Aloha Friday, Internet

Today is the last in a long line of Jewish holidays. While I’m not Orthodox, I do stay offline during these holidays just like I do for Shabbat every Saturday. Of course, this year, the holidays fell on Thursdays and Fridays leaving me offline for 3 days straight for 3 out of the past 4 weeks. By the time it was over, I was itching to get back online.

Still, I actually like being offline every now and then. It’s nice to forget about whether this person has a new blog post, whether that person has tweeted something new or whether there’s a new and interesting e-mail in my inbox. Instead, I focus on whether my sons have a new game to play, whether my wife has something new to talk about and what new and interesting things we can do as a family.

My Aloha Friday question for today is: Do you take regular Internet/Social Media breaks?

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 #57

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