Fatherhood Archives - Page 5 of 9

Aloha Friday: Dad Reminders

June 17, 2011 TechyDad Aloha Friday, Clothing, Fatherhood, Memories

If you saw my Wordless Wednesday post, you know that I have a lot of ties. 70 just in those photos, in fact. Growing up, I didn’t like wearing ties. As I got older, though, they began to grow on me. Part of this might be that my father has a lot of ties and seeing my ton of ties reminds me of him.

My Aloha Friday question for today is: What items remind you of your father?

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 #92

My Walmart Father’s Day Wishlist

June 14, 2011 TechyDad Fatherhood, Geeky Pursuits, Holidays, Roku, Shopping, Technology

In case you haven’t heard, Father’s Day is coming. Growing up, this meant buying my father a tie or similar piece of clothing. (Techy gifts while I was growing up, either were beyond my monetary means or weren’t the kind of gift he was interested in.) And while I appreciate a nice tie, my gift preferences usually skew towards the geeky side. Sadly, though, we aren’t super wealthy. I can’t afford to go out and buy every single piece of geeky

tech that makes me drool. I need to prioritize and bargain shop and Walmart is always on my bargain shopping list. Here, in no particular order, are some tech items that I’d love to get for Father’s Day. All of these items were spotted during a recent stroll through our local Walmart. They are also all available from Walmart’s Father’s Day electronics page or Walmart.com.

Video Games:

Playing video games is fun. Playing video games with my boys is extremely fun. NHL, while not a master, has learned how to operate the controls nicely. JSL wants to work it right, but just can’t figure it out yet. I think he just needs more practice. Which means I need to play more video games with him. Oh the never-ending chores us dads must undertake!

Roku

Yes, we already have two Roku players. One in our living room and one in our bedroom. Why do we need a third, you ask? Well, our upstairs room (used by the boys as a play room) doesn’t have one. In fact, since it only has basic cable TV (and a DVD player but the DVDs are kept downstairs), that TV would benefit greatly from a Roku player. Plus, the boys could rock out with Pandora in the larger play room space.

iPad 2

Don’t ask me how we didn’t get a photo of this. I drool over the thought of having an iPad to use. Oh the web browsing I’d do. The apps I’d download. The Angry Birds I’d fling at green pigs. Excuse me while I get my drool mop.

LCD Monitor

I recently inherited a desktop computer that my parents didn’t need anymore. I want to set this up to be a print/file server, but I need a monitor. I have two CRT monitors I could use but they are big, hulking affairs. They work fine, but they take up so much desk space. How much nicer would it be to have this slim number on the desk instead of the giant dinosaur?

Disclosure: I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour by Dad Central Consulting on behalf of Walmart and received a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate.

TV Dad vs TV Dad: Who Is The World’s Greatest?

May 26, 2011 TechyDad Fatherhood, Television

Over at ManOfTheHouse.com, they’re running an interesting elimination bracket. Giants are facing off against each other to see who is the best of their group. No, I’m not talking about sports teams going head to head. I’m talking about such giants as Keaton, Seaver, Winslow, Micelli, Huxtable, and Foreman. Yes, they have pit 32 TV dads in head to head competition.

You can head on over to the “World’s Greatest TV Dad” contest and vote for your favorite in each of the two dad matchups. Each week, one dad will triumph over the other and half of the competitors will be eliminated. The remaining dads will face each other again and again until only one is left.

Already some dads have been eliminated, including one of my favorites. Before this contest, if you asked me who was the best TV dad to use as a role model, I’d have said Cliff Huxtable. It’s clear that Cliff, for all the goofy things he says and sarcasm he tosses out about his ever-growing household, loves his kids. He works hard to provide the best for them and wants to see them be the best they can possibly be.

However, for all of Cliff’s benefits, there’s another TV dad that I might hold in higher esteem. This dad was very ahead of the curve when it comes to dad trends. Of course, I’m talking of Tony Micelli from “Who’s The Boss.” Tony was a single dad of modest means. He took a job as a live-in housekeeper to give his daughter a better environment to grow and learn. His job entailed cooking and cleaning; jobs that were not widely considered “things dads do” in the early 80’s.

To me, Micelli’s dedication to provide the best possible life for his daughter, coupled with his bending of cultural and gender stereotypes makes him a great TV dad role model in my book.

Disclaimer: I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Dad Central Consulting on behalf of P&G and received promotional items to thank me for taking the time to participate.

Who Am I?

May 23, 2011 TechyDad Family, Fatherhood, Gardening, Life

Yesterday, the rain held off. It was the perfect time to catch up on some yard work that needed to be done. I mowed the lawn, put down some grass seed (our lawn still hasn’t recovered from the burst water pipe last year), trimmed some hedges, and potted some plants we had purchased the previous day.

While I was doing this, the boys were inside with B. They could have come out, but they don’t like the noise that the lawn mower puts out. JSL, who came out for a little bit, freaked out that every small flying bug was a bee coming after him. Besides, I had set up NHL on my computer and he was having a blast playing Angry Birds, Gravity Duck and other games online.

So I had the time to myself. It was nice. I had peace and quiet and could think while I lugged heavy bags of dirt or pushed our mower up and down the yard. I began to enjoy my “Dad’s Day Out” until it hit me. This *was* the closest thing to a dad’s day out that I’ve had in awhile and I was doing yard work. Some day out.

I began to think about how I’d rather spend a day out by myself. Suppose B came up to me and told me that, this coming Sunday, she would take the boys and I could do whatever I wanted. What would I do?

I don’t have any family or friends here and it often feels like I switch between “Worker Mode” (where I’m in an office all day with little to no social interaction beyond “we need you to do this for us”) straight to “Dad Mode” (where I try to cook meals, take care of my wife and kids, clean up, etc). If I’m not in “Worker Mode” or “Dad Mode”, who am I? Who is TechyDad when he’s not coding web sites or being a dad? I’m not sure I have an answer for that question and it scares me. I love being a web developer and I love being a dad, I don’t think it is too much to ask to be able to be “just me” from time to time.

The dream I had last night isn’t helping my mood, either. I was with B and my parents visiting my grandparents’ grave site. Only, I didn’t know exactly where it was. Somehow, I got separated from everyone. As I tried to find them and the gravesite, they visited the grave and then prepared to leave. I tried to explain to them (via cell phone) that I still needed to visit the grave, but they told me they’d leave without me if I didn’t get to the car. Then, B came by to bring me back to the car over my objections. I was almost in tears over being denied the opportunity to visit my grandparents’ grave when I woke up.

I’m not sure if the dream is somehow related to the “Who am I” feelings from the previous day, but this wouldn’t be the first time that I dreamt about something bothering me. Between yesterday’s identity crisis and this morning’s bad dream, you’ll excuse me if I’m feeling emotionally on edge today.

Mom Field Trip = Dad Day With Boys

May 12, 2011 TechyDad Comics, Family, Fatherhood, Fun, JSL, NHL, Parenting, Photos

Today, over on TheAngelForever.com, B is recounting the story of her mom field trip with Christina from CutestKidEver to see Rene Syler (aka Good Enough Mother). But what of the flip side? What did the boys and I do while B went on her road trip? Well, the boys and I had our own fun times.

As you may remember, I was undecided on whether or not I should go to Free Comic Day. After B left, I made my decision: We were going. I armed the kids with their Green Lantern rings from our Green Lantern party, got them into the car and headed over to Zombie Planet.

I had heard that the 501st, a group of Star Wars fans who dress up like Stormtroopers, would be there. NHL was excited to see “costumes.” Ever since Disney, he’s gone costume-crazy. He must meet (and get his photo with) any costumed character who is anywhere near him. He was not disappointed.

We got out of the car and there, in front of the store, was a single Stormtrooper. He was joined by a Tusken Raider.

The Tusken Raider would occasionally make a growling sound (like the one that the movie Tusken Raider made as he stood over Luke Skywalker). This scared NHL off from getting his photo taken with the Tusken Raider. So we went indoors and proceeded upstairs to the free comics section.

Unlike last year, when it was “take as many as you like”, there was a 5 comic per person limit. I had gone online the previous days to Free Comic Book Day’s website to see which comics would be available. This meant that I knew just which comics were the best for my boys and which should be skipped. The only complaints from the boys came when NHL looked out the window and spied Spider-Man. He insisted that we *HAD* to go outside right now to meet the web slinger.

I explained to NHL that we needed to check out (even we had nothing that we were being charged for). Besides, I had brought some Phineas and Ferb action figures that needed peg stands. I hoped that the comic shop would be able to help. (Sadly, they didn’t have what I needed.)

Finally, we left the comic shop and NHL immediately approached Spider-Man for a photo.

Then, I made a Geeky Daddy decision. NHL was wearing a Green Lantern ring. Green Lanterns Hal Jordon was supposedly “born without fear.” So I couldn’t very well let him leave afraid of the Tusken Raider, could I? I’d have been deducted 30 Geek Points!

I spoke with him about it and he finally agreed to get his photo taken.

After that, we headed home for lunch and some comic book reading.

Once the boys were fed, I decided that it was too nice of a day to be couped up indoors. So we grabbed some of our colossal cannons and headed out to play.

Eventually, NHL had a bright idea. His great-grandmother had given them some butterfly nets, but NHL thought they’d make great colossal cannon disc catching nets. And they did!

Our next door neighbor’s daughter, N, also came over and played with the boys for quite awhile. Eventually, they tired of chasing after green discs and wanted to play with bubbles. Cue the Winnie the Pooh bubble blower!

They also wanted to play with chalk and I eventually relented.

I noticed the skies were getting dark and warned the boys that we might have to go inside soon. Besides, B’s return time was getting closer and closer.

As B pulled up, I hurredly gathered the chalk and got the boys (and N) off our driveway. The boys said goodbye to N and hello to B. Then, as we walked in, the heavens opened up. Perfect timing!

The boys and I had a fun day together and B had a nice Mommy Road Trip. I’d call that a win all around!

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