Cure JM, the Baltimore Running Festival, and Me. Posted by Unknown on 5/29/2012 6 comments

So I was going to write a short post about Cure JM, but then I watched the DadLabs show and everything changed...

Kevin, who writes at Always Home and Uncool, sent me an email, asking me (and others) if there was anything anyone could do to help the charity organization Kevin and his wife started after their daughter was diagnosed with JM:

Juvenile Myositis (JM) is an autoimmune disease in which the body's immune system attacks its own cells and tissues. For many children with JM, it's a challenge to simply stand up or sit down. This rare disease affects approximately 2-4 children out of a million.
Cure JM Foundation is an all-volunteer foundation created and managed by families of children with Juvenile Myositis. Cure JM Foundation's mission is to provide support for families coping with JM, raise awareness of JM, and fund research that will ultimately lead to a cure.
The Foundation's aspirational goal is to never, ever let another child suffer with Juvenile Myositis. With your help, this goal may be well within reach some day.

More specifically, Kevin wanted to see if I could mention the fact that the charity was participating in the Baltimore Marathon (aka "The Baltimore Running Festival") in October, maybe because he knew I lived in Baltimore.

It was really a no-brainer. I sent Kevin an email back, telling him I would write about the charity and about the marathon, then mention it on Twitter and on Facebook. And that was it. Until I watched DadLabs.

Clay Nichols, also known as DaddyClay had an announcement on the show: He was going to travel from Austin to Baltimore to run in support of the charity.

Damn!

I live in Baltimore and all I could do was tweet about it?

See, he's kind of a big man, and when I saw he was running, I figured I could do it too. Unfortunately, by the time I realized jogging was actually his hobby, and that his Twitter account was full of "I just ran 13 miles in 30 minutes" updates, it was too late. I was already signed up.

DaddyClay and The Motivator

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So I'll be running too. I'll be running the 5K, don't get me wrong, but even that's a lot for someone who doesn't do the running-thing.

As soon as I made up my mind, I went to the gym and started running on the treadmill. About 45 minutes later (My wife: "45 minutes for 5K? That's fast-walking!"), a sweaty but happy tomato was looking back at me in the mirror. I can do this.

Please read Kevin's latest blog post, Run for this Cure JM Kid’s Life, which has more information about his daughter, the charity, and the marathon. You can also head over to my FirstGiving page and click around to read more about the charity there, or donate directly from the page.

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Dad Hair Posted by Unknown on 5/26/2012 12 comments

I don't know more about this book than what I can read on the book's website, DadHair.com (update: site has been taken down now. Ah well), but the picture on the cover does make me want to say something.

I don't like stereotypes in general, because they're lazy and divisive. I don't like the bumbling-dad stereotype in particular, because it's also hurtful and it's absolutely wrong and it's--

Who am I kidding? At least in my case, one stereotype is true: dad-hair is a real thing.

It's just that men usually spend all their lives with short hair, and then one day we have this long-haired creatures, and we're handed these accessories, and we're told to put the two together...

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(I found the picture on Fodder for Father's Facebook page, which is always a great source for all things fatherhood) 

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The Kid Dictionary Review and Giveaway Posted by Unknown on 5/22/2012 8 comments

I've been following The Kid Dictionary account on Twitter for a while. If you want to know why, here's the video-trailer-thingy for the book:

If you've watched this video and, like me, you think it's hilarious, then you should be excited to know Eric Ruhalter has put his best Kid Dictionary definitions into a cool little perfect-gift book. I truly, really, honestly think this is a great gift for all parents (and like they say on the video, a great gift for anyone who used to be a child, which means most of you).

Nothing quite justifies having reviews on this blog like having the opportunity to write a review for a funny parenting book written by a dad.

If you want more info about the book, go to Eric's site, TheKidDictionary.com, to read more about the book, and hopefully to order a copy for yourselves, your loved ones, or just for a random liked one.

Also, I got one free copy to review, and another one to give away. The Rafflecopter thing worked well with the previous giveaway, so I'm going to do this again. Please please let me know if there's any problem with it, though.

It's an awesome book, full of short pearls-of-wisdom. I hope I can get people to enter the giveaway, let's say for the next week, and I hope I can also get some people to support a fellow dad and buy the book. It's less than 10 bucks, people, come on!

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a Rafflecopter giveaway

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I Am Area Dad! Posted by Unknown on 5/20/2012 2 comments

Man... The Onion hasn't figured out humanity this well since its "37 Record-Store Clerks Feared Dead In Yo La Tengo Concert Disaster" story.

(Click image for original article)

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Circle of Moms Catches a Predator Posted by Unknown on 5/15/2012 3 comments

I've always wanted to try making one of them xtranormal video, but never found the right subject. Fortunately, Sharon Silver of Circle of Moms has recently written about her encounter with a child predator. How does she know he was a child predator? Well, she doesn't. She knows he was a man, and she knows he was chatting loudly with two teenagers in a public place, and she comes to the unquestionable conclusion that by publicly humiliating the man, she saved these kids from being abused.

The original post is here. Read it while wearing a helmet, because you will want to bang your head on the nearest piece of furniture.

For more about the article, read 8BitDad's take.

And then there's my own video. Blondie's text has been cut & pasted from the Circle of Moms article.

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DrawSomething: Father Edition Posted by Unknown on 5/14/2012 4 comments

As a person born with two left hands, I wish to take this opportunity to apologize to anyone who has made the mistake of starting a DrawSomething game with me.

To anyone who doesn't know this game, well, it's a game. You play it on your phone.

Here's my latest masterpiece (the poor victim is my cousin, Ileenie Weenie):

See, it's not a cow, and it's not a chicken... And it's square...

Come on!

Maybe I should have drawn chopsticks instead of a fork and a knife. Although to be fair, my chopsticks would have resembled real chopsticks the same way the fork and knife resemble the real things.

Still, this is just an introduction. The real post is below, and it's just a picture I stole from Reddit:

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The title of the picture was

I got the word "father" while playing my father in DrawSomething. We are both artists... hopefully I didnt make him cry too hard.

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Legos in Charge Posted by Unknown on 5/10/2012 4 comments

John from Daddy's in Charge? is a Lego Master Level 5, which is the highest level currently known to man, although ancient books mention Master 9s battling it out for fame and glory. Maybe I made it all up, and maybe I didn't. It doesn't matter--it's out of my hands. It now belongs to the Internet. Use it wisely.

Here are some of his videos, because they're too cool not to share.






And more recently, using sacred iPhone technology:

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Charlie and Andy Posted by Unknown on 5/08/2012 10 comments

How To Be A Dad

I think it's time to feature How To Be A Dad! Of course I've mentioned the site before, saying that if a site ends up representing dads for mainstream audiences, it's better them than a curmudgeon like me, and definitely better than a phony like Single Dad Laughing.

I assume most people here have at least stumbled upon How To Be A Dad. In case you have only seen their Sleep Position posts, featured on Huffington Post and shared by your cooler Facebook friends, you should head over there to see the rest of the stuff, which includes personal notes, instructional diagrams, and--well, it's all in their Welcome page. You will go there and start clicking around, and before you know it, a few days will go by. Guaranteed.

Beyond actually having worthy content on the blog, though, which by itself is a pretty rare thing on the Internet, How to be a Dad is great because Charlie and Andy are very active on Twitter and on Facebook, participating in rather than trying to lead the community of social media parents. In fact, they seem to be there all the time, which probably means they have an army of south Asian social media writers, while they sit by the pool and count the money. I can't prove any of that, though. Yet.

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A Letter to Myself (and to anyone else who's interested, really) Posted by Unknown on 5/02/2012 5 comments

Dear Sir,

If you don't stop to appreciate what you have, if you don't stop to realize you're absolutely the luckiest person in the world because of all the love you get from the people around you, then you don't deserve any of that.

Don't forget you're actually experiencing the best time of your life. Don't forget that, or you don't deserve the memories.

A post from Jay, the blogger at Halftime Lessons, shows one unforgettable moment in the life of a family. Nothing has been achieved that day. The to-do list was simply cut and pasted to the next day. Another person (like me, for example) could have looked back at that day and see nothing but wasted time.

And yet, it was a perfect day.

Step away from the tasks. Step away from the goals. Remind yourself to appreciate the present. Constantly remind yourself. Write it with a Sharpie on your computer screen, just in case. Appreciate the present, or everything you do, everything you push for, everything you achieve is meaningless.

Go outside. It's springtime.

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