Daddy Forever Dad Blog » General

J.K. Rowling’s new book: The Casual Vacancy – coming out September 27, 2012

Daddy Forever — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 19:26:55 +0000

I was browsing through Amazon during my lunch hour when I noticed an announcement about J.K. Rowling’s new book: The Casual Vacancy. I already knew her new book is intended for adults and that it isn’t going to be about Harry Potter, but the description (see below) for the story sounds kinda boring. I sure hope the new book is a lot better than the summary. The Casual Vacancy hardcover will be available on September 27, 2012. A Kindle book version will also be available at the same time.

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Review and Giveaway: Happy Feet Two Blu-Ray 3D Combo Pack

Daddy Forever — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 08:01:10 +0000

Thanks to Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, I’m giving a Happy Feet Two Blu-Ray 3D Combo Pack on my dad blog. Happy Feet 2 will be available on Blu-Ray 3D Combo Pack, Blu-ray Combo Pack, DVD and digital download next Tuesday (March 13th). The release of Happy Feet Two ties in with the recently updated Happy Feet Two Movie App. The latest version of the free app now synchs with the movie. I used the app while watching the movie over the weekend and I thought the synching of the app content with the movie was pretty neat. The app essentially gives you a second screen to view content and do activities related to the scene in the movie. For instance, during some of the singing scenes, the app displayed sing-a-long lyrics for the song. Unfortunately, the app didn’t make us sing any better.

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New Harry Potter Books for Dads and Moms

Daddy Forever — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 16:53:32 +0000

Anyone a fan of the Harry Potter books? Silly question. If you’re one of the millions of Potterheads, then you should be happy to hear J.K. Rowling is writing a new novel. No word on when the new book will be published. However, this time around, the book will not be about Harry Potter. In fact, according to my source (OK, it was the morning news), the new novel is intended for adults. I’m not sure if that means the book is inappropriate for children.

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Seven Interesting Things About Chinese New Year

Daddy Forever — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 14:49:00 +0000

Happy Chinese New Year! This time of the year, I like to torture my kids by making them dress up in their Asian outfits. Aren’t they cute in the photo above? I think it was of the few photos that didn’t show them rolling their eyes at me.

Last year it was the year of the rabbit (my year). This year it’s the year of the dragon (my oldest daughter is a dragon). Below are seven interesting things about Chinese New Year.

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Review: Game of Your Life – help your family or help your friends

Daddy Forever — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 14:55:17 +0000

The kids and I saw an online screening of Game of Your Life. It’s a movie about a college freshman named Zach Taylor. Zach recently received a scholarship to the prestigious Digital Institute of Game Design (DIGD). Now he must survive the first three months of college because the game design program will eliminate half the class by the end of the term. Bottom line: Game of Your Life is an interesting family-oriented movie. Gamers will most likely get a kick seeing how video games are designed. The new family night movie (Facebook) from P&G and Walmart will premiere next Friday, December 2nd on NBC at 8pm ET/PT (7pm CT).

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Timmy Time: Hide & Seek Review and Giveaway

Daddy Forever — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 07:01:39 +0000

The kids and I watched the new Timmy Time: Hide & Seek DVD (Lionsgate and HIT Entertainment) over the weekend. It’s the first time we’ve seen Timmy Time. We like it! I think out toddler liked it the most — he was mesmerized during the entire 45 minutes of the DVD. The characters (Timmy, Yabba, Paxton, Bumpy, Mittens, and Stripey) don’t talk in the DVD, but it was fun trying to figure out what they were doing. Timmy Time: Hide & Seek DVD comes out on DVD next Tuesday (September 20). It has a list price of $14.98, but you can get it for $11.99 on Amazon. Read on to find out how you can win a copy of the new Timmy Time DVD.

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Thomas & Friends: Day of the Diesels DVD Review and Giveaway

Daddy Forever — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 07:01:35 +0000

I’m giving away the new Thomas & Friends: Day of the Diesels DVD on my dad blog. The new Thomas and Friends DVD is about a bunch of diesel trains trying to take over the Steamworks. Until I watched the 58-minute DVD, I didn’t even know there were bad elements on the Island of Sodor. Apparently, the Steamies are the nice trains on the island and some of the Diesels are the not-so-nice trains. This is the third Thomas DVD my kids have watched, and they like this one as well (especially my two-year old toddler). Thomas & Friends: Day of the Diesels DVD (Lionsgate and HIT Entertainment) will be released tomorrow (September 6th) on DVD, Blu-Ray + DVD Combo Pack, Digital Download and On Demand. The list price is $19.98 for the DVD, and $24.99 for the combo pack. Both versions are cheaper on Amazon ($12.99 and $17.99 respectively).

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Goody Good Stuff All-Natural Gummies Review

Daddy Forever — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 19:47:48 +0000

I’m doing a review of Goody Good Stuff All-Natural Gummies. I don’t usually do candy reviews, but I agreed to review Goody Good Stuff because their product is designed for people with food allergies. Our toddler has all sorts of allergies — including dairy, eggs, nuts, and beef. Thankfully, Goody Good Stuff Gummies are gluten free, fat free, nut free, soy free, dairy free, egg free, meat free, gelatine free, lactose free, wheat free, and cassein free. Goody Good Stuff Gummies are also vegetarian (some varieties are vegan) and do not contain artificial flavors or colors. They come in eight flavors. My kids tried three of the flavors (Cheery Cherries, Cola Breeze, and Sour Fruit). They said they tasted a little different compared to regular gummies, but they still love them. My wife said she likes it too. I can’t believe they didn’t save any for me — especially since I’m the one writing the review.

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Unknown DVD Review – Liam Neeson races to find answers to his true identity

Daddy Forever — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 16:05:55 +0000

Warner Bros. sent me a copy of their Unknown DVD for review. I didn’t see the movie when it was at the theaters. To be honest, the 30-second TV trailers (longer, better trailer below) I saw for the movie did not drive me to go watch the movie when it first came out. Luckily, this is one of those movies that is better than the trailer (don’t you hate it when the trailer is more interesting than the actual movie?). In short: Unknown is a movie that keeps you guessing throughout the film. Unknown has some action scenes, but it will appeal more to people that are into mysteries. You can watch Unknown your way, On Demand, For Download and on Blu-ray combo pack starting today.

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Six Father’s Day Gift Ideas

Daddy Forever — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 19:31:20 +0000

Tick tock. Father’s Day is less than a week away. This year, I might get my dad an electronic photo frame. I think he’ll like it — especially if I upload a bunch of photos of his grandkids to the frame. Now that my dad is retired, I can actually see my dad on Father’s Day. He use to be a cook and was never able to get Father’s Day off. I wonder why. Anyways, if you’re still looking for Father’s Day gift ideas, below are some items on my wish list. I found these items in the electronics section at Walmart.

Read more: Six Father’s Day Gift Ideas

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Does potassium iodide protect against nuclear radiation?

Daddy Forever — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 13:58:34 +0000

With the partial meltdown of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, there has been a run on potassium iodide (KI). The over-the-counter medicine is out of stock at many pharmacies. Even though experts do not believe the radiation will make it all the way to our west coast, many Americans are still worry about possible radiation poisoning. We live only about 50 miles from the Pacific Ocean so I’m a little worry too. Should I stock up on potassium iodide tablets to protect my family against nuclear radiation? No idea. Until this week, I have not even heard of potassium iodide. That’s why I decided to do a little research and write about it on my dad blog.

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Year of the Bunny Rabbit

Daddy Forever — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 14:28:58 +0000

Happy Chinese New Year everyone! It’s the year of the rabbit. I was actually born in the year of the rabbit. Yeah, I know. Being a bunny rabbit isn’t exactly manly. Why couldn’t I have been born in the year of the dragon or tiger? Anyhow, check out Kaboose if you are interested in Chinese New Year crafts and activities for your kids or Family Fun for some Chinese New Year recipes and crafts. If you want to see your Chinese zodiac horoscope for this year, find your sign with this Chinese Zodiac sign calculator, and then read the rest of my post for your horoscope.

Go Daddy .ME Scholarship – Win $10,000 for College

Daddy Forever — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 14:53:20 +0000

Hello people. I’m back. After writing reviews and giveaways for the last two months, it feels kinda weird writing about something else. Don’t worry, I will still run giveaways on my dad blog. I know many of you are here mainly for the giveaways. You guys like free stuff. The frugal dad in me likes free stuff too. Anyhow, while I’m waiting to be contacted for another giveaway, I thought I’ll write something useful for dads and moms with kids in college or going to college in the fall. Go Daddy is giving away ten scholarships worth $10,000 each. According to my fifth grader, that’s a total of $100,000. I think that’s also how much a college education will cost annually by the time my kids are ready for college.

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Holiday Gift Guide – Books Edition

Daddy Forever — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 14:39:37 +0000

Last week, I put together a DVD movies gift guide. This week, I decided to put together a list of books that would appeal to many dads, moms, and kids.

Categories: Characters Guides | Cookbooks | Twilight Parodies | Teens and Tweens

Superhero Guides
If your children love superheroes, then they will also love the three superhero guides below. We purchased the DC Comics and Marvel encyclopedias a couple of years ago and they are getting a little beat up because my seven-year old son looks at them all the time. Plus he treats his books like he treats his baby brother — Rough with a capital R. Recently, my son checked out the Avengers guide at the library and likes it too, but there is a lot of overlap between the Avengers guide and the Marvel Encyclopedia. These three superhero guides feature pictures and interesting facts about superheroes and supervillains. I highly recommend the DC and Marvel encyclopedias. And if you don’t want to shell out the bucks for those two books, I would suggest going with the less expensive Avengers guide.

The DC Comics Encyclopedia (List Price: $40, Amazon: $28.61)
Marvel Encyclopedia (List Price: $40, Amazon: $26.40)
Marvel Avengers: The Ultimate Character Guide (List: $16.99, Amazon: $11.55)

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WordTotz and Invisicase Giveaways Winners

Daddy Forever — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 13:50:25 +0000

Two winner announcements on my dad blog today. JD and Carson are the winners of WordTotz iPhone App Giveaway and Melanie B is the winner of the Invisicase Giveaway. If you didn’t win, feel free to enter the other giveaways on my dad blog:

Olive Garden Giveaway – gift card, Williams-Sonoma bowl (ends 9/21)
BeFunky Giveaway – one-year premium membership (ends 9/22)
Orient Watch Giveaway – Orient watch (ends 9/27)
Business Cards Giveaway – die cut business cards (ends 9/29)

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Toys of the Year

Daddy Forever — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 14:09:33 +0000

Many people have heard of the Oscars (the academy awards, not the hot dog), but how many dads and moms know what TOTYs are? FYI for dads and moms, TOTYs are Oscars for the toy industry. TOTY is short for Toy of the Year. For the last ten years, members and associate members of the Toy Industry Association (TIA) have selected the top toys for the year. Read on to see this year’s winners of the Toy of the Year Awards.

Walmart Books Promotion, Food Allergies, and Alice in Wonderland

Daddy Forever — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 13:33:05 +0000

Walmart Books Promotion | Food Allergies | Alice in Wonderland Video Game

This week on my dad blog, I have three short news stories that may be of interest to dads and moms:

Read Across America at Walmart
Walmart.com is running a month-long promotion on children books as part of Read Across America Day and Dr. Seuss’s birthday. Dads and moms can save up to 40% on the top 500 children’s books. Parents can purchase children books for as low as $3 (including free shipping). According to various studies, by the age of two, children who are read to regularly display greater language comprehension, larger vocabularies, and higher cognitive skills. The Early Childhood Longitudinal Study found that children who were read to at least three times a week by a family member were almost twice as likely to score in the top 25 percent in reading.

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Links Round Up – 2010.02.12

Daddy Forever — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 14:31:13 +0000

Healthy Child Healthy World :: Craftzine :: Ponoko

I didn’t have time to write anything other than giveaway posts on my dad blog this week, so here are three short blurbs about a few sites I took a quick look at. Hopefully I’ll have more time for longer reviews on my blog in the near future.

Healthy Child Healthy World
Healthy Child Healthy World is a nonprofit organization. Healthy Child educates dads and moms, supports protective policies, and engages communities to make responsible decisions, simple everyday choices, and well-informed lifestyle improvements to create healthy environments where children and families can flourish. According to Healthy Child Healthy World, over 125 million Americans, especially children, face chronic disease and illness such as cancer, autism, asthma, birth defects, ADD / ADHD, and learning and developmental disabilities. Evidence suggests environmental hazards and household chemicals are causing and contributing to many of these diseases.

Read more: Links Round Up – 2010.02.12

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Links Round Up – 2010.02.05

Daddy Forever — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 08:01:57 +0000

Explore the Literacy House
The National Center for Family Literacy (NCFL) recently launched a site that shows dads and moms how to transform routine daily activities like meal preparation and bath time into rich learning experiences for their children. According to research:

Children exposed to more spoken words earlier in life demonstrate richer vocabulary and early acquisition of literacy skills
Learning climate of the home positively impacts children’s school readiness and language skills
The positive way parents interact with their children in the home helps children’s literacy development

The NCFL’s goal is to use the power of the family to promote a culture of learning.

Explore the Literacy House

Read more: Links Round Up – 2010.02.05

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Links Round Up – 2010.01.30

Daddy Forever — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 08:01:15 +0000

I have an inbox full of PR requests (you know, because I am the ultimate dad blogger). I don’t have time to write posts about each one of them individually. In fact, even if I clone myself, I still wouldn’t have the time to write a short blurb about all of them (that’s why I give priority to giveaways). The best I can do is write short blurbs about a few of the requests I received.

Even Firefighters Go to the Potty
As the title suggests, this kids book is about going to the potty. I don’t have a copy of Even Firefighters Go to the Potty: A Potty Training Lift-the-Flap Story ($7.99), but here’s a description from Amazon:

Toddlers are uneasy about toilet training. And in most cases, even if they know they have to go, sometimes they are too busy to bother. In this hilarious gate-fold story, each person — from a firefighter on the way to answer a fire alarm to a zoo keeper on the way to feed the polar bears — stops what they are doing to go to the potty. With humor and no pedantics, toddlers learn that everybody uses the potty.

The Firefighters Potty book was written by Wendy Wax.

Read more: Links Round Up – 2010.01.30

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How to Save Your Family if Your Accelerator Pedal Gets Stuck

Daddy Forever — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 00:46:52 +0000

In case there are dads and moms who have not heard: Toyota has issued a recall of several models because the accelerator pedal sticks. The stuck accelerator has resulted in several deaths. I’m not going to blog about the recall. Instead, I’m going to focus on what you should do in the event your accelerator sticks. BTW, the recall does not involve the Sienna mini-vans.

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The Fresh Air Fund Racers Give Gift of Fun to Children

Daddy Forever — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 13:22:04 +0000

OK dads and moms. Today I’m running a public service announcement for The Fresh Air Fund, which is an independent, not-for-profit agency. The Fresh Air Fund has provided free summer vacations to over 1.7 million New York City children from low-income communities. Last summer, close to 5,000 children visited volunteer host families in suburbs and small town communities across 13 states from Virginia to Maine and Canada. Most children who visit host families are re-invited year after year and form life-long friendships.

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P.F. Chang’s China Bistro Giveaway Winner

Daddy Forever — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 08:36:00 +0000

The winner of the P.F. Chang’s China Bistro giveaway is Maureen. Thanks to the generous people at P.F. Chang’s, Maureen will receive a $100 gift card. BTW, it’s still not too late to take advantage of P.F. Chang’s gift card promotion for the holidays. For every $50 in P.F. Chang’s gift cards purchased, you will receive a $10 Be Our Guest Card for use in 2010. Offer ends December 31, 2009.

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Rated I for Immature

Daddy Forever — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 13:05:10 +0000

The weirdo-in-law gave my wife a Wii console for her birthday last summer. We have the Wii Sports that came with the system and LEGO Batman (the Little Princess bought it with her own money). For the holidays, I’m thinking about getting a game or two for the kids (really, the games are for the kids, not dad). I have never bought a video game before and I didn’t even know they had ratings like E for Everyone, T for Teen, and M for Mature (is there an I for Immature?).

According to an email I received recently, dads and moms can also get rating summaries about a game’s rating on the ESRB site, the ESRB mobile website, or via the free ESRB iPhone app. Rating summaries offer a little more information about the aspects of the game that led to the rating it was assigned. You can see some of the extra information below:

Super Hero Squad

Amazon Info
Rating: Everyone 10+

ESRB Rating Summary
Rating: Everyone 10+
Content descriptors: Cartoon Violence
Rating summary: This is an action adventure game in which players guide a group of stylized, “cartoony” Marvel Comics characters through bright and colorful levels. In “Adventure” mode, players engage in fast-paced hand-to-hand combat against villains, creatures, and henchmen who disappear when defeated. In “Battle” mode, players fight other Marvel characters in one-on-one, arena-based brawls. Realistic punching and kicking sounds, grunts, and occasional laser gun fire can be heard throughout the game.

H1N1 Vaccines for Prison Inmates, Wall Street Workers, and Santas – But Not Kids

Daddy Forever — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 01:48:51 +0000

Maybe because I’m a dad, I see things differently than most people. But I truly think our world is upside down. For instance, our HMO didn’t get their first shipment of H1N1 vaccines until the week after our baby was hospitalized for H1N1. If the vaccines came in a couple weeks earlier, our baby wouldn’t have been infected and I wouldn’t be stuck with three medical bills totaling over $18,000.

Now that the H1N1 vaccine is finally available at our HMO, the powers to be changed the high priority list. The list use to include people between 6 months and 24 years old. Now it’s children 6 to 59 months old. Our two oldest kids (ages six and nine) can’t get vaccinated unless they have medical conditions that increase their risk for influenza complications.

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Box Tops for Education

Daddy Forever — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 08:02:01 +0000

The Box Tops for Education team sent me an email about their Power of 1 contest. For the dads and moms who don’t know, parents can clip Box Tops logo on hundreds of products like Cheerios, Hamburger Helper, and Kleenex. Turn them into your kid’s school and each Box Tops coupon is worth 10¢ for your kid’s school.

From now until December 1, 2009, the first 200,000 moms and dads to join the Box Tops for Education will earn 5 bonus Box Tops for their kid’s school. Five bonus Box Tops are only worth 50 cents, but they add up during the course of the school year. Dads and moms can earn even more points by emailing their friends and relatives to join the program. Look at how much some schools earned last year from the Box Tops for Education program:

Single Dad of Three

Daddy Forever — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 08:01:51 +0000

Thank you for all your good wishes and prayers. Our family really appreciates it. I also want to thank Robert Nickell, the owner of DaddyScrubs.com. Nickell also owns a pharmaceutical company and has offered to sell the expensive anti-seizure med at cost. What a great guy!

Sorry I have not been out in the blogosphere lately (I’ll be back soon). Things are really hectic around here. My wife and baby are essentially quarantined in the TV room. The baby isn’t contagious. We just want to minimize the risk of baby getting infected with something else while his immune system is down. Right now I feel like a single dad with three young kids. Have I ever mentioned my kids like to bicker with each other? ALL DAY LONG.

Reminder: enter the Maghound Magazines Giveaway now (who can’t use a one year subscription for up to 15 magazines a month?). There’s only one entry so far. You guys are making me look bad and you’re suppose to make me look good. And don’t forget to enter the MAGnificent Makeover Sweepstakes ($1500 shopping spree, trip to New York for two, and a makeover). You can enter the sweepstakes once a day until December 15th.

And finally, the winners of the Novosoft Handy Backup Software Giveaway (sorry for the delay): Seattledad and Ruthie.

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National Sex Offender Public Website

Daddy Forever — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 07:01:53 +0000

With Halloween just around the corner, I decided to search the National Sex Offender Public Website for sex offenders in our neighborhood. Yeah, I know. As a dad, I should check the sex offender public website year round instead of just around Halloween time. My bad. I’ll do better. Luckily for us, the search only turned up one hit for our zip code. And he doesn’t even live in our neighborhood — he’s over four miles away.

For the dads and moms who don’t know, the Dru Sjodin National Sex Offender Public Website is coordinated by the U.S. Department of Justice. It is a cooperative effort between the Jurisdictions (ie – states) hosting public sex offender registries and the federal government. The website is a search tool that enables users to submit a single national query to obtain information about sex offenders.

With the website, moms and dads can obtain public information regarding the presence or location of offenders who have been convicted of sexually violent offenses against adults and children and certain sexual contact and other crimes against victims who are minors. Parents can use the website to educate themselves about the possible presence of offenders in their local communities.

Note: the default search is a standard search that only lets you query by name. So unless you know the names of all the sex offenders in your area, you should use the advance search instead. The advance search lets you query by name, zip code, county, city, and state. Tip: you should enter adjacent zip codes (maximum of five) in the search box. Otherwise, the search will be limited to the zip code you entered.

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The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

Daddy Forever — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 04:11:19 +0000

I must be a bad dad because I missed the news yesterday about Harry Potter the Ride. Apparently, Universal Orlando will open the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in the spring of 2010. According to the Universal Orlando Resort, guests will be able to sip Butterbeer in Three Broomsticks, buy Extendable Ears at Zonko’s, and experience attractions that bring the stories of Harry Potter to life.

Cool. The Little Princess and I read the Harry Potter series this past summer. She’s pretty excited about the theme park. I am too, except I have no idea how I can afford to go there next year. Florida is on the opposite coast from us and it’s expensive to fly a family of six all the way over there. Maybe we could use our broomsticks, Portkeys, or Floo Powder. Look out muggles! Here comes daddy and his Forever wizards.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal’s Islands of Adventure

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Mom and Dad Blogs

Daddy Forever — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 00:32:38 +0000

I put together a directory of mom blogs and dad blogs on Daddy Forever. I added some of the suggestions from the HP notebooks giveaway to a list I had been compiling when I’m not busy making babies with my wife. This first pass of the listing is the beta release (Version 0.1). The directory is a work in progress (like my dad blog) and I expect to make many more changes before it’s good enough to be considered a 1.0 release (my wife is still waiting for the bug-free release of me).

When I was going through the sites, I used my gut feeling to determine if the blog should be included in my mommy and daddy directory. Just because a blog is written by a mom or dad doesn’t mean it should be included (ie – a blog written by a dad about the kinky mating habits of seahorses). At some point, I need to define the criteria to be listed in my directory (a big bribe?).

I also need to decide if I should include non-blogs. I’ve noticed some “blogs” are so slick that they are more like an online magazine than a blog. Should they be listed? Not sure yet. And what about the big media publications that have columnists write parenting blogs? Then there are the blogs devoted entirely to giveaways and reviews. Yeah I know, I run reviews and giveaways on my dad blog too. But my blog isn’t entirely devoted to giveaways and reviews like some blogs. There’s nothing wrong with sites that are like that, but should they be listed in a mom and dad blog directory?

At some point, I’ll probably need to assign blogs to categories. Otherwise, I’ll just end up with a really long list as the directory expands. I actually started to put blogs in categories in the first pass, but it was too much work. And some blogs were too hard to place in a single category.

Anyways, I just wanted to let my regular readers preview my dad and mom directory. Feel free to offer feedback. Inquiring minds want to know.

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When She Was Young and Happy

Daddy Forever — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 05:17:10 +0000

After burying my mom this morning, I’ve concluded people should never have to plan their parents’ funeral. When you lose someone like your mother or father, the last thing you want to do is talk to a complete stranger about the funeral arrangements. You don’t want to answer questions like: Would you prefer a metal coffin or a wood coffin? What is your mother’s favorite color? Do you think she would want to be buried in a pink coffin? You also don’t want to be presented with a billion different options for the funeral — especially when you’ve never been part of a funeral service before. Wouldn’t it be nice if a funeral service could magically plan itself?

My mom’s struggles with Alzheimer’s and dementia dominate my memories of her. It’s hard for me to come up with memories of her when she was happy. That’s why I was glad to find the photo of her below for the funeral. Not only is my mother smiling in the photo, she’s also young. I wish my mind was full of memories of mom when she was young and happy.

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Goodbye Mom

Daddy Forever — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 07:01:48 +0000

My mom passed away on Tuesday. She lived a sad life. Her life started on a bad note when she born in China and was not allowed to immigrate to America. A guardian took care of my mother in China while her parents raised her brothers and and sisters in the states. My mom was stranded in China for over 30 years. And for the last ten years of my mom’s life, she struggled with Alzheimer’s and dementia. For the past few years, I don’t think my mother knew who I was or even who she was. She just babbled to imaginary people for hours.

Goodbye mom. I hope your next life is much better than the life you had here on earth. You will be missed.

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Links Roundup – 2009.06.19

Daddy Forever — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 07:01:36 +0000

I won a $100 Home Depot gift card from Idaho Dad. Yay! Now I have to hide it. Otherwise, my wife will spend it all before I can make it out to Home Depot. A while back, I also won a 16×20 poster from Kari. I’m on a roll. I should buy a lottery ticket.

I also won two awards — one from Chris and the other from elijahssong. I think the award is for the sexiest blogger alive or something like that. Take that Hugh Jackman. Thank you ladies for the awards.

It starts with you. It stays with him. is a campaign to end violence against women. White Ribbon Campaign and Le Centre ontarien de prévention des agressions are working together to raise a generation of men who respect women. The White Ribbon is a symbol of a man’s pledge to never commit, condone, or remain silent about violence against women. I’m glad my dad never hitted my mom. Otherwise, who knows what kind of man I would have grown up to become.

In the “Parents Gone Bad” files, we have two stories. First story is about a mom wanna-be. She used Craigslist to hook up with a pregnant woman. Then she killed the pregnant woman and cutted the baby out of the womb. The baby did not survive. In another story, a woman gave birth and then tossed her baby into a portable toilet. It’s not clear whether the baby boy died before or after being thrown in the toilet.

Shoeboxed.com scans and organizes receipts and business cards that users mail in. Shoeboxed converts piles of unorganized receipts and business cards into an organized, searchable, secure, and exportable digital archive of financial and contact information. The service might be worth looking into if you’re into filing away years of receipts. I have hundreds of receipts in my file cabinet that are no longer readable.

Gran Torino and The Boy in the Striped Pajamas are two movies I’ve seen recently. They are great movies and I highly recommend both of them. I give the DVDs three thumbs up.

Reminder: the Energizer charger giveaway ends June 24th and the dads and grads books giveaway ends June 30th.

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Links Roundup – 2009.06.05

Daddy Forever — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 07:01:23 +0000

Reminder: Wednesday, June 10th is the last day to enter the Teleflora flowers giveaway for Father’s Day.

If you got about $100 to spend, a cool lightsaber would make an excellent Father’s Day present for a geek dad. The (Yoda [$79.98], Darth Vader [$99.03], Luke Skywalker [$139.99], Anakin [$99.99]) lightsabers are expensive because they use motion sensors to trigger the awesome Star Wars sound effects.

Carbon Fiber Gear is giving away two pens for Father’s Day. To enter, write a comment on their blog about why you love carbon fiber pens.

You can download a free copy of the Battle for Terra activity book. The pdf file is filled with photos, word searches, how to make a terrarium, recipes, and other activities for kids and families. The Battle for Terra movie was released last month.

The Fresh Air Fund is an independent, not-for-profit agency that has provided free summer vacations to more than 1.7 million New York City children from low-income communities since 1877. Any donation made by June 30th to The Fresh Air Fund will be matched dollar for dollar by a generous group of donors.

The It’s Up 2 U website is challenging families to take part in a nationwide effort to make healthy changes at home and in schools. They want to increase awareness and encourage families to join the act against child obesity.

[me] & goji is a custom cereal and granola company. Customers can design their own cereal online from over 50 natural and organic ingredients. As users select the ingredients, the nutritional values are updated in real time. The customized cereal is shipped directly in a sleek cereal capsule.

Wishpot is a social shopping site that lets people create wish lists by adding items found from not just one but from any site on the web (domestic or international). The list can then be sent to family and friends for special occasions like Father’s Day, birthdays, etc.

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Mom Throws Kids Off Of Bridge

Daddy Forever — Wed, 27 May 2009 07:01:32 +0000

Over Memorial Weekend, a mom (Amanda Jo Stott-Smith) threw her two kids off of a bridge in the Portland area. The seven year old daughter is in serious condition, but is expected to survive. The four year old boy, however, died before he was rescued. The girl is actually very lucky to be alive. The bridge is about 75 feet high, it was one in the morning, and the river was barely above freezing. Lucky for her, a couple from a houseboat heard screaming and took their boat out to investigate.

According to the authorities, the mom forced her two young children off the Sellwood Bridge in an act of revenge against her estranged husband. The couple had been in a nasty custody battle over their kids. According to court records, the father was given temporary custody of the children and the mom was given visitation rights every other weekend. The mom wasn’t happy with the ruling so she tried to kill both of her kids. What is wrong with this woman?

Like all of you normal people out there, I would rather lose custody of my kids and have them live a long life. I would never choose to end the life of my children because I couldn’t bare the thought of losing them to someone else. Isn’t that what loving parents would do? I don’t understand how a mom could fight for custody of her children and then kill them.

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Free Dad and Mom Domains

Daddy Forever — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 00:06:50 +0000

I have six domain names that I don’t use. If you’ve commented on my blog prior to this post, leave a comment and you can have one domain for free. If you are not a regular commenter, use the contact me link to email me. Make an offer and I’ll get back to you.

dadforever.com
daddyforlife.com
foreverdaddy.com

mommyforlife.com
mommyforever.com
momforever.com

[Update: - I forgot to mention that I will transfer the domains for free. However, after the registration expires in mid-June, you'll have to pay about $10 annually to Go Daddy if you want to keep the domains. Sorry.]

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The Sun is Crushing My Blog

Daddy Forever — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 01:06:25 +0000

We finally got several days of nice, warm weather. A couple of weeks ago, we got our first 70 degrees day. Today, we got our first 80 degrees day. When it’s nice out, I find it hard to work or blog. I stare out the window, take long lunches, and run around naked outside. Here in the Pacific Northwest, we get ten months of rain and gloom. When the sun finally awakes from hibernation, we Oregonians head outdoors and we become unproductive until the rain returns. Today, I even blew off work and walked to the library with the Little Monkey.

So, here’s my question for the day: How do you blog when it’s nice outside?

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Who’s on First

Daddy Forever — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 01:57:46 +0000

Today was the deadline for filing our taxes and contributing to the AIG executive bonus fund. I hope everyone got their taxes done on time. Because it’s tax day, I thought I’ll share a recent phone call to the IRS.

Me: I got a letter stating I over paid my taxes.

IRS: Which form?

Me: 1120.

IRS: The name of your company and tax ID?

Me: Blah, blah, blah.

IRS: One moment please while I look up your record. [music] OK, according to our records, you had a tax balance of zero and you made a payment of $xxx,xxx,xxx.

Me: I did make a payment of $xxx,xxx,xxx, but that’s because I had a tax amount due of $xxx,xxx,xxx. It’s on line 34 of the form I completed.

IRS: Hmmm. For some reason, our computer show an amount due of zero for line 34. Let me check with someone. Please hold. [music again] OK, they made an error and entered zero due instead of $xxx,xxx,xxx. I will put a hold on your credit and send you a letter.

Me: OK. That’s it right? I don’t need to do anything else.

IRS: No. You need to send my letter to the IRS and explain the problem.

Me: I thought I am talking to the IRS.

IRS: You are, but you need to send the letter to a different department.

Me: So you’re going to send me a letter. Then I’m suppose to send the letter back to the IRS?

IRS: Correct.

Me: Who’s on first.

IRS: What?

Me: What’s on second. Who’s on first.

IRS: I don’t understand. You’re confusing me.

Me: Really? Now, you know how I feel.

I should have just kept the refund and bought a small island in the tropics. But I was afraid the IRS might audit and castrate me, and then banish me to a planet full of stinky diapers.

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Top Three Things

Daddy Forever — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 08:03:21 +0000

Kay over at Life is Kulayful tagged me for the Top Three Things meme. If you enjoy memes, consider yourself tagged. Here goes:

Three names that friends call you:
1. Ken the Great
2. The Gifted One
3. Mr. Amazing

Three most important dates in your life:
1. June 13th
2. July 31st
3. February 30th

Three things you’ve done in the last 30 minutes:
1. Patched a drywall
2. Repaired the turbolift
3. Conquered the universe

Three ways to be happy:
1. Tormenting my kids
2. Sitting by a waterfall
3. Star gazing

Three gifts you would like to receive:
1. Invisibility cloak
2. Transporter
3. Angelina Jolie

Three of your favorite hobbies:
1. Playing with the dark side of the Force
2. Discussing the meaning of life with the Guardian of Forever
3. Traveling through space at warp speed

Three places you want to go for a vacation:
1. Hong Kong
2. Caprica before the Cylon invasion
3. Infinity and beyond

Three favorite drinks:
1. Coke One / Diet Coke
2. Romulan ale
3. Non-alcoholic water

Three things found in your bag:
1. Phaser
2. Lightsaber
3. Sword of Truth

Three favorite colors:
1. Indigo Blue
2. Orange Crush
3. Sinister Black

Top three hangouts:
1. The Holodeck
2. The Death Star
3. The Borg cube

Top three you love so much:
1. My family
2. Cylon, Model Number Six
3. Borg Queen

Top three things special to you (things only):
1. The stars and the moon
2. The Force
3. My sanity

Top three that make you happy lately:
1. Showing my wife my latest dance moves
2. Chasing rainbows
3. Ruling the universe with an iron fist

Top three reasons why you answered this survey:
1. Kay tagged me,
2. Tried to bribe me,
3. Then threatened me

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Thanks to AIG, I Can Not Die in Peace

Daddy Forever — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 08:04:00 +0000

I seem to have hit a pocket of bad luck turbulence. My latest financial trouble involves American General Life Insurance Company (AIG Life). Over the weekend, AIG sent me a letter cancelling my life insurance policy for non-payment. I don’t think AIG knows what they are doing because I made the annual payment last October. When AIG notified me back in November, I had my bank send them a copy of the check, which was deposited by AIG and cleared on October 17th. In December, AIG investigated the matter and sent me a letter informing me I was correct and that the issue was resolved.

Then last month, AIG sent me another letter telling me they still have not received payment. I assumed it was just an error/automated response since they already told me the problem has been taken care of. Then over the weekend, AIG sent me yet another letter. This time they told me they have terminated my policy (even though I had already paid them $282 last October). My wife called AIG and told them we already sent proof of payment and that AIG sent a letter telling us they did receive the check. The customer service rep told my wife that they have no record that the check ever cleared and that we have to resolve the issue with our bank.

What the heck? AIG cashed the check. It cleared. We sent them proof. AIG acknowledged receipt of payment. Now my life insurance policy has been terminated. Without a refund.

Even if I get my life insurance policy reinstated, I have absolutely no confidence AIG will actually send a check to my family in the event I am killed by a sith or a giant marshmallow man. Keep in mind that AIG was bailed out twice last Fall ($150 billion in taxpayer dollars) and will most likely need another bailout this year. This is the same company that threw a party at a five-star resort two weeks after the first bailout. They don’t know what they are doing. Right now, I would rather get my $282 back than keep my policy with AIG Life.

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We Have a Scarlet Letter on Our Garbage Can

Daddy Forever — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 01:13:28 +0000

We’re having problems with the garbage company. Except when it snows, the garbage company hauls away our trash every week. And every week, they do something to annoy us.

Here’s the story. Every Friday, we place our garbage can on the sidewalk to the right of our driveway. We put it on the sidewalk because we’re one of those people who don’t like to knock over the garage can with the mini-van. Yeah, I know, we’re strange that way. The garbage truck comes, picks up our trash can with the mechanical arm, and empties the garbage into their truck. But instead of placing the can back on the sidewalk, the truck drives about 15 feet and then places the can out on the street and in front of our driveway. The can not only blocks our driveway, it also blocks the mail truck from delivering all those wonderful bills (the mail boxes for our block is located on the left side of our driveway).

Here’s the strange part. All the neighbors’ cans are placed back on the sidewalk where they were originally. Our trash can is the only one moved more than a foot or two. And it happens every week.

Another time, the driver placed a gigantic, red, warning sticker on the lid of our garbage can. Apparently, placing the garbage can, recycle container, and yard debris can within four feet of each other is too close for the truck’s mechanical arm. We’re now required to place our containers 500 feet apart. The strange thing is, the rule only seems to apply to us. Everyone else in our neighborhood still place all their containers within a foot of each other. We’re the only ones with a big, scarlet letter on the trash can.

So, what do you think? Is the garbage company out to get us?

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Sex, Lies, and the Inauguration

Daddy Forever — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 01:24:03 +0000

While the rest of the nation was witnessing Barack Obama’s historic inauguration, people in the Portland area was dealing with a scandal that involves sex, lies, an openly gay mayor, and a teenaged boy. Try topping that, Obama.

This week, a local paper broke the story about a sex scandal involving our newly elected mayor, Sam Adams. When the mayor was campaigning last fall, he denied he had a sexual relationship with a teenager in 2005. Now the mayor admits he was lying and told his former partner to lie too.

According to the 42-year old mayor, they waited until the boy was 18 before they had sex because the mayor knew it was illegal to have sex with a minor. Sure, he knew that was illegal, but he didn’t know it was morally wrong? The boy was an intern (not his) and the mayor was a person with power (he was a city commissioner at the time). Sounds like really bad judgment to me. Kinda makes you wonder if he has the right character to be the mayor.

Wait, there’s more. Most people in Portland do not seem to be upset with the mayor’s relationship with the teenager, but they are angry that he lied about it. Have I mentioned that Portland is a very liberal city? In fact, Portland is so liberal that you could legally clone yourself and then get a license to marry your clone. Just don’t lie about it.

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Annoying My Readers

Daddy Forever — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 08:01:25 +0000

I made several changes on my blog over the weekend. The biggest one is probably the Google Adsense ads on the side bars. Sorry about that, but the ads are not for my regular readers. Most of my traffic comes from search engines and I want to see if I can make money off of these searchers. I plan on using the money to buy giveaway prizes for my regular readers. I’ll keep you updated and let you know if it works.

The other big change is on the home page. I use to always show the entire post on the home page, but now I’m only showing a portion of the post for most entries. I prefer to show the entire post, but I have to reduce the load on the server (especially when there are a lot of graphics in the post). I know it’s annoying. Sorry.

Over the weekend, I also installed a cache plugin. Now when you view a page on my blog, you are served a version that was saved earlier. Normally, the server would query the database and serve you the most updated page. By bypassing the database, the cache plugin reduces the load on the server. Unfortunately, that means you may not always see the most recent comments.

That’s it for now. I’ll see what else I can change to annoy you.

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Blogosphere Hibernation

Daddy Forever — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 04:38:58 +0000

I’m back. I feel like I’m a groggy bear blogger coming out of blogosphere hibernation. I seem to be moving in slow motion in the blogosphere.

I’ve been busy ruling the universe for the past three weeks and have not had time for blogging. Plus I’m bored with writing about how cute my kids are. My goal this year is to write more useful posts and less fluff. Speaking of fluff, here are some in list form:

The Butthead Mom

Daddy Forever — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 08:02:48 +0000

I might be overreacting here, but I was pissed off last Friday. The Little Princess was invited to another girly birthday party. We dropped her off at her friend’s house and was told by the birthday girl’s mom (let’s call her Butthead Mom) that the party will be over at six o’clock. We ran some errands and then went home. Right before 6 pm, we received a phone call from Butthead Mom telling us the party was running 30 minutes late. I thought it was a little strange that Butthead Mom would bother to call to tell us the party was going to end 30 minutes later than expected. After all, the party was at her house and we could just hang out there if we got there early, right?

Wrong!

As it turns out, Butthead Mom and another person drove the kids to an arcade. WTF? That was news to us. Butthead Mom never told us they were taking our girl anywhere. Not in the invite. Not when we dropped her off. Not when Butthead Mom called us. And not when we came to pick up our daughter. We might not have ever known if my wife didn’t notice the Little Princess’ shoes were not in the same place outside the door. She asked the Little Princess if she went outside and that’s when we found out about the trip to the arcade.

How can a parent take another person’s kid somewhere and not say anything about it? Just because I’m almost fine with dropping off my daughter for a party doesn’t mean it’s ok for someone to drive her around town without my permission. Keep in mind the Little Princess is only eight and we don’t know Butthead Mom very well. We’ve only seen Butthead Mom when she dropped off her girl at our parties and when we dropped off our daughter at their parties. If I had all the time in the world and if I wanted to torment myself, I would stay at the party and keep an eye on the Little Princess (we use to do this when she was younger).

We’re disappointed in the Little Princess too. She knows she isn’t suppose to get in a car with someone unless we tell her it’s ok. She should have called, but she didn’t. Actually, I’m not surprised she didn’t call. She’s doesn’t like to rock the boat. If all her friends hopped into a mini-van, then she’ll hop in too. She’s not the confrontational type and will never say something like: “Before you take me anywhere and possibly sell me as a slave, I need to ask my parents for permission first.”

Even though I have three kids, I’m still new to this parenting thing. So tell me, is it unusual for another parent to drive your kid somewhere without asking or telling you? We should have asked, but it never occurred to us someone would actually take off with our kid like that.

Oh yeah, we decided the Little Princess can no longer go to the Butthead Mom’s house. In the future, we also plan to ask other parents if they will be taking our kids anywhere. Maybe we should also ask if they will be handing out drugs, booze, or guns.

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The Charming Stripper

Daddy Forever — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 08:05:02 +0000

A couple of things today. First, I can’t believe some of you readers thought I use to be a male stripper. Maybe a gigolo (no laughing please), but never a stripper. I expect to be wined and dined before I put out.

Second, Orlund over at Dad’s Workbench gave me the Charming Blog Award. Yes, it’s true. I’m very charming when I’m not stripping, glaring at people, or hiding behind my kids at parties. Thank you, Orlund.

“These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers! Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly written text into the body of their award.”

I like too many blogs to choose only eight bloggers to give the award to. Instead, I’m going to highlight the top eight commentors for this year:

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Seven Interesting Things

Daddy Forever — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 08:08:58 +0000

Last month, the mad woman over at Chased by Children tagged me for a meme. I’m suppose to write seven interesting things about myself — six true and one false. I don’t know if these are interesting or not, but here goes:

I worked part-time as a male stripper in college. Women at bachelorette parties were the biggest tippers and sorority girls were the worst.
I worked in Japan for a week. While there, a former NEC executive tried to set me up with his daughter. He even had her fly to America to visit me. My bad. I should have told him I was already dating someone, but I didn’t expect to ever see his daughter again.
I can’t drive a stick very well. In college, I forgot to step on the brake pedal when I started a friend’s pickup …… the truck smacked into a concrete building. The building was fine, but the bumper was history. Ooops.
I ordered way too much soil last summer. So I removed my lawn sod, moved the soil to where the lawn was, and then placed the sod back. I essentially swept the soil underneath my lawn.
I never learned phonetics so I have trouble pronouncing words I’ve never heard before. Books with a lot of made-up words drive me crazy.
I use to be fluent in languages like Pascal, Cobol, Fortran, and Assembly. Now I’m only fluent in English.
I was born with an extra finger on my left hand. It was surgically removed when I was six. Just the extra finger, not the entire left hand.

So, which one is not true?

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Did Obama Really Win?

Daddy Forever — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 08:07:57 +0000

Barack Obama won the popular vote and more importantly, the electoral vote. But John McCain won more territories. Reminds me of the 2000 elections when Al Gore received half a million more popular votes than George W Bush, but lost by five electoral votes and a bunch of dangling chads in Florida.

2008 Presidential Election Results by County
Blue = Obama, Red = McCain

Source: Mark Newman, Department of Physics, University of Michigan

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Black and Orange or Orange and Black?

Daddy Forever — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 00:39:40 +0000

Guess what my wife gave me for my birthday last Friday.

Two Oregon State jackets! My wife still loves me.

But there’s a catch. I can only keep one of the jackets. Apparently, there is a limit to her love.

Which jacket do you think I should keep: black and orange? Or orange and black? (Sorry for my appearance, I didn’t have time to put on my skin today.)

Black and orange

Orange and black

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Resistance is Futile

Daddy Forever — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 07:03:19 +0000

Last Saturday, I met the unpopular girl at our Halloween party. From what I was able to observe, the unpopular girl wasn’t mean or shy. She wasn’t the life of the party, but she wasn’t sitting in the corner by herself either. The unpopular girl was just a little bit different from the other girls. For example, her classmates came dressed as witches and princesses. The unpopular girl came dressed as a girl taking a shower. Her costume consisted of a hula hoop with a curtain hanging from it. I thought her costume was funny, but she definitely stood out — especially when she started bumping into things with her hula hoop curtain costume.

The unpopular girl reminded me of a scene from Spanglish. In the movie, Adam Sandler drops off his daughter at an elite private school. While his daughter is walking away, Sandler notices that his daughter is different from the other girls. Later, Sandler asks his nanny (Paz Vega): If you had to choose between your daughter fitting in and being the same as everyone else, or being different and not fitting in, which would you choose?

Obviously, our kids are all different and they have their own unique personality. However, at some point during childhood, kids will feel the urge to be assimilated by the Borg collective. Resistance is futile. They’ll start talking the same, pretend to like movies that they don’t like, and go to football games even though they don’t care for the sport. Ideally, our kids could be as different as they want to be and still be part of the hive. But I don’t think it works that way.

So, which would you choose for your kids? Being the same as the other kids and fitting in? Or being different and not fitting in? Sorry, you can’t choose being different and fitting in. That’s against the law.

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