As a father’s rights advocate and someone who has been through divorce and now is flying solo raising my kids as a single dad, I end up talking with a lot of men who are going through similar experiences, suddenly finding themselves not just being the father but without the benefit of an often more experienced mom in the picture to help. It’s daunting. We live in a culture that, like most cultures before us,…Read More
It was just a few months before Linda and I got married. We were living in Redwood City, California, and renting a split-level house. I went upstairs to shave and decided I’d do something different and shave off my beard and mustache. I came back downstairs, clean shaven, and looking pretty different. So different, in fact, that our dogs started barking at me: they didn’t recognize that strange man coming downstairs. Linda? She took one…Read More
It’s the week leading up to Father’s Day and really the first full-bore week of summer vacation for my kids both. And since their Mom’s out of town, all three of them are with me this week. Bored, bored, bored. Which is making getting anything accomplished — and I have a lot on my to-do list, as always — difficult. Summer camps? Nope. Trips? Eventually, but not this week. Friends? Most are out of town,…Read More
I lucked out with military service. My Dad was in the Royal Air Force, my sister was in the US Army and then the Army Reserves, my uncles, my grandfathers, my brother-in-law, lots of military service in my extended family, but while I have thought about it a few times, that wasn’t the path I took. I now live in a famously liberal community, Boulder Colorado, and to be candid, somehow people in my area…Read More
Folks who follow me on Facebook — and you can too, if you’d like — know that in addition to losing weight, I’ve also been improving my health by a daily workout at the gym. It’s a rhythm that’s far easier than I ever expected, actually, and I’m glad to see the results slowly come into focus after four rather rigorous months of activity and thoughtful eating. One area of tech that I’ve been watching…Read More
I’ll be candid, I’m not the most avid of National Hockey League fans, and until a few months ago, I’d never even been to a hockey game (read about our Avalanche game adventure) but I really enjoyed the in-person game and recognize the many similarities between hockey and soccer. And, well, the many differences, not the least of which are the never-ending substitutions and the ceaseless breaks in the game for commercials, but that’s what…Read More
I get letters… Here’s one that came in to my inbox last night that I read out to my 1oth grader and she agreed, “definitely creepy”. Here’s what this Mom asked: I have a question about e-mail between high school students and teachers. My daughter’s teacher gave out his work email and work contact information at the beginning of the year. I found that helpful. Yesterday, after finals, my daughter told me that he wrote…Read More
Here in Colorado we have a very specific task that’s required when the weather finally transitions away from the icy grasp of King Winter and into Spring, with all its chaos and unpredictability: take off the snow tires. Some cars just seem to have less traction than others, so it’s common for Coloradoans to have studded snow tires on their vehicles. While they offer considerably better bad weather (read “ice”) traction, they’re expensive and not…Read More
Rather to my surprise, I’m long past the 25 pound mark and heading towards a total loss of 30 pounds in three months. This slightly late update to week 15 marks me weighing in at 241.0 pounds. Remember, I started out the beginning of February at 268.7 pounds. I’ll let you do the math but I knew years ago that losing weight was going to be this straightforward (that’s 9lbs/month) I would never have gotten…Read More
I was talking with a gal earlier this afternoon about single parenting and the involvement of both parents after a divorce. In my case, my ex and I are both quite involved in our children’s lives and regularly communicate about medical, sports, school and many other issues. For me, that’s the norm. Other single parents I know have a different arrangement, however, where one parent is the decision maker, while the other parent occasionally adds…Read More
