It’s tough to be sick. The worst is if you’re a baby, of course, because you can’t actually communicate what’s not feeling good and get any meaningful assistance to ease the suffering. As children get older things get a bit better because they can say “I have a tummy ache” or “my head hurts” or just a miserable “ugh, I wanna die.” And once we get to adulthood we’re generally on our own and simply…Read More
There are few milestones in a young person’s life greater than the huge adventure of moving out of the family home and heading to college. Life in the dorms can be sheer chaos and bewildering for some teens but for others it’s a great new world, a chance to find their own sleep schedule, eating preferences and lifestyle. Parties, lots of friends waiting to connect and yes, love interests. It’s a potent mix and it’s…Read More
Let’s face it, this fatherhood thing isn’t easy. And sometimes it can feel impossible, with obstinate kids, a judgmental partner or ex and a boss that couldn’t care less about your home life and won’t cut you any slack. That’s why I support every Dad taking care of your own mental health, not just focusing on your children. Nowadays we have some really cool options for this too, notably online therapy and counseling. From the…Read More
Car reviews are usually based on a few days of driving around the neighborhood and perhaps a weekend jaunt up into the mountains, down to the beach or over to a favorite destination a few dozen miles away. Not 2000 miles of highway. My son was heading off to college, however, and Pitzer is just under 1000 miles from our home in Boulder, Colorado. A dorm room’s worth of clothes, bedding and various other college…Read More
It’s been quite a journey getting down the road of childhood and parenting to the point where my son was ready to go to college and was accepted both. He did great and was accepted into Pitzer College, part of the Claremont Colleges, in Claremont, California. Pitzer has a 13% acceptance rate, so it really is a testament to his efforts over the last few years that he made it. I’ll write about Pitzer and…Read More
Want to take your work game to the next level, guys? Certifications are a smart way to do that, and one of the more popular is the Project Manager PMP exam. Here’s some useful info to get you started studying for this one so you can level up your career. The Project Management Professional (mostly known as the “PMP”) is a certification offered by the Project Management Institute that is acknowledged and respected throughout the…Read More
This month brings change with my children in a completely unprecedented manner: My oldest daughter will be starting up at Denver University (she transferred from Colorado State University, Fort Collins at the end of last school year), my son is starting college at Pitzer, far off in Southern California, and the youngest is heading to high school just a few miles from home. There’s a story in each of their journeys, of course, but what’s…Read More
Ah college. Since I’m poised to get my son to the dorms at his college in California and then help my older daughter move into her apartment so she can continue her college journey here in Colorado, campus life has definitely been on my mind lately. When I did my undergrad at UC San Diego, I can remember having down time between classes and always utilizing it to go to the student center and play…Read More
When Steven Spielberg directed a film about a shark based on a best-selling Peter Benchley book of the same name, he had no way of knowing that it was going to not only be one of the first true cinematic blockbusters, but would influence a generation of swimmers too. The 1975 film Jaws turned sharks into toothy celebrities that are now memorialized in our culture through media events like Shark Week. With three increasingly weak…Read More
I’ve been playing cribbage for so many years that I can’t remember when I first learned the game. I know I played it with my folks when I was a teenager and I have taught all three of my children – who all enjoy a game or two – and I even ran a cribbage league in Silicon Valley years ago when I lived out there. It’s a fun, fast paced game where there are…Read More
How’s this for an original idea: an inexplicable pandemic hits the world and 98% of children die without warning. The remaining 2% gain various superpowers but are hunted down by the government. The unlucky children who are caught end up in dark, Orwellian prison camps, slave labor to an evil regime. The lucky ones get together in small villages, trying to live in kid-only harmony while staying hidden from the military. These children are divide…Read More
Any time you engage in a game with other people, whether it’s your life partner, your child or a group of friends or acquaintances, you’ve got the potential to encounter friction and upset. Hopefully it’s minor, perhaps taking the form of a snarky comment or friendly jibe, but sometimes it can become more tense and explode into arguments or worse. As someone who has played tons of different games of varying complexity and duration with…Read More
About a decade ago I had Lasik laser eye surgery and it was one of the best things I’ve ever done. Prior to that I wore glasses and contact lenses, dealing with an astigmatism and gradually decaying vision which was muchly affected by the many hours of staring at computer screens in college and later. Turns out our human eyes aren’t designed for endless staring at a surface 15″ from our nose. Glasses weren’t too…Read More
I don’t know if my Mum realized it at the time, but there was a period during my childhood when my breakfast of choice was waffles with vanilla ice cream. No fruit, not even maple syrup, just a waffle and ice cream sandwich. Mad tasty, though as a parent now I cringe at the nutritional value of this meal. Still, you don’t have to be Eleven in Stranger Things to love waffles and the great…Read More
Just in time to help you enjoy the full Hotel Transylvania trilogy with the release of Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation, I’ve been invited by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment to give away a double feature of Hotel Transylvania and Hotel Transylvania 2. If you’re not familiar with the overall storyline it’s quite amusing: Dracula is a single dad who has ended up running a resort hotel catering to a rather monstrous clientele. Because monsters need…Read More