I think it goes without saying that those who are most famous are not necessarily the most mature. We know this when it comes to Hollywood, but I think we tend to forget this applies to the blogosphere as well.
Month: May 2011
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Observing Memorial Day
Memorial Day posts are never super popular or fun… if they’re done right. A memorial, by definition, is “is an object which serves as a focus for memory of something, usually a person (who has died) or an event.” So when we observe Memorial Day, we remember and honor the soldiers who have given their lives for our sake, and for their families who have endured unimaginable loss.
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My Wife Just Keeps Getting Hotter
I thought my wife was hot in college. And trust me, she was. I was all goofy inside when I’d look at her. That’s partly why I married her. I’m not ashamed to say it. I like beauty. I didn’t want to ever feel the need to lie about how beautiful she looks. So I was picky. VERY picky. And I wanted to know beyond a reasonable doubt that I’d still be attracted to the woman I married 20 years later. Check.
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My Passion is… Me?
Dear Gary Vaynerchuk,
After letting your book Crush It sit on the shelf for the better part of a year, I read it through to the end this past week. I was pleasantly surprised by the book, and even more pleasantly surprised by the numbered To Do checklist at the end.
To be honest, I struggled with question #1:
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Sick and Unhappy Face
This is the unintentionally unhappy-sick Daniel face.What can I say? I’m vertical for the first time in 4 days and I’m exhausted. Sinus infection or something. But that’s not important.
What’s important is that I’m staring at my most unhappy photo in months and I can’t help but admire how thin my face looks. Pathetic? I say no. It’s the silver lining.
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What’s With the Split Finger Face Holding Thing?
I ask the tough questions so you don’t have to. If you ever spend any amount of time talking to me while I’m seated, you’ll notice half a dozen unique face holding positions that I’ve developed(?) over the years to – I don’t know – support the weight of my head?
It’s probably a hold-over from my years as a smoker. All the hand-involved facial posing made me feel so much more serious and worth taking seriously. Yeah, I know. It is what it is. Thus, the face-palm-split-finger-contorto-thingy. Tada!
In this photo, I am watching a Kenshoo demo online. Kenshoo is one of many quality tools for managing large paid search marketing accounts. I’ve been using Acquisio, but I’m test driving the competitors to get a feel for what’s out there. So far so good.
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Comment Spammers: 2nd Time’s the Charm
There’s a new level of blog comment spam out there that’s as wonderfully clever as it is evil. Here’s how it looks:
Imagine you wrote a blog post about kola nuts. A few days later, you see this comment awaiting moderation:
“Extracts from kola nuts are great energy boosters. Couple kola nut extracts with Vitamin B complex to increase energy and stamina. In addition, this combination will enhance circulation, protein metabolism and also maintain hormone balance.”
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Toddlers and Nursing Homes
I’m not comfortable sharing this. It’s still too fresh. But for the sake of transparency, I’ll give it a shot.
My grandmother is in a nursing home. I’m not proud of this fact. Under many circumstances, I do NOT consider nursing homes normal or acceptable options for elderly care. I do not agree with the principle of nursing homes. My personal viewpoint. You don’t have to agree. I’m not sure where I came upon this belief system, but I hold families responsible for caring for their own.
But there’s a problem. My grandmother frequently cannot remember who we are or where she is, and her speech is rarely understandable.
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Bonding Over New Experiences
Just about the time Katie could stand by holding onto a coffee table, I decided to create a new Saturday morning ritual. Every Saturday, while Heather was catching up on the sleep she didn’t get the night before, Katie and I went to Starbucks. Just the two of us.
She was fascinated by the people there. She would watch people, I would read or journal. Every now and then we’d cuddle. It became one of my very favorite things.
Time Shows No Mercy
Then she grew older. And she was less satisfied with people watching and she demanded my attention. We’d read books and play little games. That worked well for a while. But now she’s mostly bored with it. For the sake of transparency, I’ll admit I’m saddened by the loss of such sweet times.
But i’d be fooling myself if I thought she’d stay the same forever. By nature, she must grow. And if I’m going to avoid the mistakes of former generations, I must adapt and change my relational strategy to fit with who she’s becoming.
Experiment #1: Try a New Creative Hobby
There are a few creative talents I’ve always appreciated in others despite my own apparent lack of skill. Sketching and painting are among the best.
Last week, I gave Katie the choice. We’re going to have a special time together this Saturday. Would you rather try drawing or painting? She chose painting. Painting it is, then.
Saturday came, and we stopped at Walmart for a couple sketchpads, watercolors, and brushes. We picked a scenic park nearby with ducks and a pond.
Katie was pretty excited. Something new. Something we’d never done before.
I had an amazing time. So peaceful and restorative to paint in the shade of a large tree in the morning light. I probably enjoyed it even more than she did. Who knows? Maybe this becomes our new tradition. Our new “us thing”. Maybe not. But either way, I’m satisfied that we got out of our rut and did something new. We charted a new path. We experimented.
Coming to Terms with Reality
There’s a definite sense of loss over times and events we cannot return to. Such sweetness as I’ve never imagined. Those days are priceless gems among my memories.
Today presents a new challenge. Growing in our relationship together. As her capacity for language skyrockets and her thirst for higher and higher levels of interaction increases, I have a choice: mourn the loss of the past and be left behind or make the somewhat stiff and painful steps forward and create something new. And hopefully discover that forward motion bears within itself a sort of inertia that enables future transitions to be that much easier to withstand and enjoy.
I know one thing for certain: no matter how old she gets (or how old I get), I want us to always have that daddy / daughter tradition that we honor. She’s my precious little girl. She always will be.
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An Exhortation to Fathers on Mother’s Day
Today is that sacred moment each year when mothers everywhere feel just a little bit more appreciated for all the hard work they do all year long. Dads, you have a unique opportunity to spend the entire day speaking loving, appreciative things over your wife that will refresh her heart and encourage her spirit.
Just don’t screw it up like I did.