TechyDad

This post celebrates a few things. First of all, it is Rosh Hashana. This means that I’m offline for a few days (this post was scheduled in advance) and will be spending the time in temple, with my family and eating apples and honey.

Secondly, it is my second blogoversary. It’s hard to believe that I started this blog a mere two years ago. There were times that I felt like just stopping because I had no comments and other times when I felt like I had too much to say for a mere 5 posts a week. Speaking of 5 posts a week, I think this was the year that I hit my stride. I posted more regularly. I blogged as I lost 20 pounds. I was able to do more reviews and giveaways. I blogged about my history with bullying (including a story I wrote soon after the incident). I blogged about our trip to Disney World for Disney Social Media Moms and about our trip to New York City for BlogHer 2010. (On that last one, I got to meet a lot of wonderful fellow bloggers.)

I have some big plans for the next year. More reviews and giveaways, of course. Also, a redesign of my site and a “How Does That Work?” series.

My Aloha Friday question for today is: If you blog, how do you celebrate your blogoversary? If you don’t blog, what do you like to do to celebrate special occassions?

Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the MckLinky there if you are participating.

Aloha #54

While at the BlogHer 2010 session “Fight Spam and Hackers! Plugging Security Holes in Your Social Media Life” (audio), I Amy of Amiable Life asked a question. She said that she wants to understand security issues but that much of the reference material went over her head. She was wondering if there was any “WordPress for 5th Graders” or “How to Protect Yourself for an eight year old.”

This sparked an idea. I understand this technical stuff and pride myself on the ability to explain complex items in simple terms. So why couldn’t I take a subject like “How Does The Internet Work” and, perhaps using some crude graphics, explain how it works without delving into the details of TCP/IP, request headers and other topics that would cause peoples’ eyes to glaze over?

I still have some work to do before I can pull this off. The words will come easily, but I’ll need some graphics. And those might be trickier for me to do. So this might be a once every-other-month type of feature. My other concern is the selection of topics. How am I going to figure out which topics people want to learn about? Well, as this is an Aloha Friday, I bet you can guess how. I’m going to ask everyone out there!

My Aloha Friday question for today is: What computer/technology subjects would you like explained simply?

Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the MckLinky there if you are participating.

Aloha #53

I mentioned a couple of days ago that I went up on a ferris wheel, facing my fear of falling primarily to take photos. That wasn’t entirely true. The original plan was that I was going to go up with JSL. He didn’t want any part of the ferris wheel, however, so I wound up sitting next to NHL.

While up there, I did what I usually do on rides such as this: I surpressed my fears so as not to panic my son. In fact, I’ve done that a lot over the years. You see, NHL has turned out to be quite the ride daredevil. He likes going on rides that are fast, twisting and make me afraid that one of us will fall out. Yet, in nearly every case, I supress my fears in order to make him happy. (This isn’t to say that I let him do purposefully dangerous things. Just that I know the difference between real danger and my phobia.)

My Aloha Friday question for today is: Do you have any fears that you have had to overcome when you became a parent?

BTW, if you like of The Wiggles or know someone that does, be sure to enter my giveaway for their new DVD. In addition, stop by TheAngelForever.com blog for a second chance to win.

Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the MckLinky there if you are participating.

Aloha #52

This Sunday, we will celebrate NHL’s 7th birthday. As we’ve done every year, we’ll throw him a birthday party. Nothing big and flashy, mind you. Only close family will be there, not giant groups of kids. His Phineas and Ferb theming doesn’t mean a rented party hall remade to resemble Perry’s secret lair. Instead, we’ll have a cake, some Phineas and Ferb figurines that we already own, and some themed plates/napkins.

Of course, NHL’s reaching the age where he will want to start having parties with his friends. This will mean that we will need to start inviting other (non-family) kids NHL’s age. We will need to seek venues other than B’s parents’ house (e.g. bowling alleys). We may even need to plan entertainment.

Growing up, I didn’t have many birthday parties. My parents threw one for my sister and I (since our birthdays are a mere 6 days apart) when I was about NHL’s age. The party went fine, except for the clown my parents hired. All the kids gathered in close to watch his act and got in close for a good view. Everyone, that is, except for my sister and I. We birthday kids were pushed to the back where we had a lousy view.

Ever since then, we didn’t have any birthday parties. Instead, my mother would take my sister and I out to Friendly’s for lunch and ice cream. I’m not complaining, those lunches were special to me, but it does mean that I’m birthday-party-planning-challenged to some degree.

My Aloha Friday question for today is: Did you have birthday parties growing up? What special memories do you have of your birthdays growing up?

BTW, if you like of The Wiggles or know someone that does, be sure to enter my giveaway for their new DVD. In addition, stop by TheAngelForever.com blog for a second chance to win.

Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the MckLinky there if you are participating.

Aloha #51

While at BlogHer 2010, there was a small list of people that I wanted to meet. It wasn’t really formal, written out, or set in stone, but more of a general mental list. Three names were prominent on it, though: Dadarocks (aka Adam Cohen), KissMyKitty (aka Jenn) and AnissaMayhew (aka… well, I guess she’s self-explanatory).

I’ve worked with Adam in the creation and running of DadRevolution, but had never met him in person. I was able to remedy this at the Ralph Lauren party and again at Sparklecorn.

I’ve worked with Jenn during my Eden Fantasys review. I got to meet her just before the "Bringing Sex Out Of The Closet" session. Prior to this, we almost met a few times but always just missed each other. It was quite the meeting as we discussed "presents" I should buy my wife. I later saw her at the Eden Fantasys "decorating" party and at Sparklecorn.

I’ve followed Anissa’s husband, and later her, from her stroke through to the present day. I even got to see her three times during BlogHer. Each time, I saw her though, my mind went blank. I couldn’t, for the life of me, figure out what I was going to say. To keep from completely embarassing myself, I just walked by. Note: This wasn’t due to anything Anissa did or said. A lot of other people went up and talked to her and I never saw her being anything but gracious. I just had a mental freezeup and didn’t know what to say.

Luckily, I met a lot of the people on my mental list and a lot of people who I hadn’t planned to meet pre-BlogHer. I’m now following a lot more people on Twitter, made some great connections, and have a stack of business cards to go through. (I will go through those! I promise!)

My Aloha Friday question for today is: Have you ever been at a loss for words when you saw someone you really wanted to meet and talk to in person? How did you handle this?

Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the MckLinky there if you are participating.

Aloha #51

This is a special post not only because it is my 50th Aloha Friday, but also because it is about a place that is special in my heart: New York City. I’m writing and scheduling this from my house, but by the time you read it, I’ll be in NYC attending BlogHer 2010.

Growing up, my father worked in the city and every so often we would get to go to his office. I remember excitedly riding the train and subway. As we walked down the streets of the city, my sister and I would twist our necks to see the tops of the gigantic buildings. (By contrast, years later, when B showed me her home city, I felt let down as I grew up thinking city = towering buildings.) When we got to my father’s building, we would run up the steps, through the revolving door, through the revolving door, through the revolving door…. well, you get the point.

When we were done with the revolving door (or when our father said we were done), we would go to the elevator. Up we would go about twenty or so stories, the exact floor escapes my memory at the moment, and over to my father’s office. He had a big window to look out of and boy did the people and cars look tiny.

Later, during college, I interned at a PBS affiliate in New York City, WNET. Before my first day, my father accompanied me into the city and showed me how to navigate from where my train would leave me off, through Penn Station, to the appropriate subway lines and to my building. Without his help, I’d have likely wandered around for hours on my first day. Thanks to his assistance, I hardly ever got lost. Just one time, really, when I almost boarded a train for New Jersey instead of one for Long Island… Oops!

I know that BlogHer is going to be busy, but there is so much in the city that I’d love to do and see. I’d want to see the Museum of Natural History (would like to see it with NHL as well). I’d like to travel to the Lower East Side to get some of the best pickles around from NYC Pickle Guys. I’d like to catch a Broadway show and see Times Square. I’d like to visit Ground Zero, see the Empire State Building, see the Statue of Liberty and Central Park and …. Well, I guess you get the idea. Luckily, the city is a quick (relatively speaking) train ride from our house. Alternatively, we could visit my parents and take the LIRR from there into the city.

While I don’t think we’ll get to see many sights in New York City on this trip, I’m sure we’ll have plenty of great memories of BlogHer 2010!

My Aloha Friday question for today is: Have you ever been to New York City? If so, what was your favorite thing to do/see there? If not, what would you most like to do if you got the chance to visit there?

Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the MckLinky there if you are participating.

Aloha #50

Next week, I’ll be attending BlogHer 2010. Among the events, is a party billed as “glitterlicious” where people are told to “dress in glitter and leotards.” Obviously, as a guy attendee, this doesn’t quite match up with my wardrobe. There aren’t many glittery men’s outfits around. Call us guys crazy, but “glitter and leotards” just hasn’t hit it off as the macho fashion trend for 2010.

So what should I wear? After all, I don’t want to show up in a sea of sparkle wearing a plain shirt and pants. After some thought, I remembered back to when my friend G got married. Part of my groomsman outfit was an orange silk vest/tie combination. Here’s a photo of me wearing it (my friend got the gold version since he was the groom).

I got to keep this set post-wedding, but they weren’t exactly my day-to-day style so they got put into the closet and ignored. With BlogHer, and SparkleCorn, approaching, however, I’ve began thinking of taking them out. I could easily wear this with a pair of brown pants and a nice shirt underneath. Of course, if I really wanted to embarass B, I’d take LastMinuteMandy up on her double-dog dare and wear this mask from G’s costumed wedding reception.

Hey, it is sparkly! And you’ll definitely be able to tell me apart from the crowd. I’d be The Masked TechyDad!

Since we’ll be driving to BlogHer, I don’t need to worry about airlines charging extra for luggage. Still, I don’t want to overpack. Plus, we might be hopping from party to party so do I really want to leave the previous party, stop back at my room for my vest/tie (and mask) and then head back for SparkleCorn?

My Aloha Friday question for today is: If you were in my shoes, would you pack this vest/tie? If not, what would you suggest for a guy to wear to a party like SparkleCorn?

Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the MckLinky there if you are participating.

Aloha #49

On Sunday, we went to the beach after some time boating on the lake. Now, B has made it clear that she’s not a beach girl, but I love the beach. I grew up on Long Island, so beaches were very available. In fact, there were two beaches that we would regularly go to. I don’t know if they were their real names, but we always called them Long Beach and Short Beach.

Now, these beaches weren’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination. Long Beach had sharp rocks under the water. Each year, the rocks seemed to get further and further out so you had to carefully walk out until you could barely stand before you could enjoy the sand under your feet while in the water.

Short Beach didn’t have rocks. Instead, it had a low tide. And I mean low tide. One time, I remember we walked into the water during low tide and decided to just keep walking. I don’t remember how far we got, but the shore was distant and we started nearing where boats should have been… and the water still wasn’t up to our knees!

Still, I have happy memories of the beach as well. Playing in the sand, splashing in the water, finding sea life (horseshoe crabs, minnows, etc) in the water, shell collecting, getting ice cream on the hot days and trying to eat it before it melted, etc. I loved the beach and am glad to say that my kids made some great beach memories on Sunday.

My Aloha Friday question for today is: Did you go to beaches when you were younger? Do you have any fond beach memories?

Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the MckLinky there if you are participating.

Aloha #48

In just 20 days, B and I will be headed into New York City for BlogHer 2010. Now, B’s been to a blogging conference before, Disney Social Media Moms, but I’ve never been. I did go to PC Expo years ago but I’m guessing that a mid-90′s computer show will be very different than a 2010 blogging conference.

My Aloha Friday question for today is: Will you be at BlogHer? Have you ever gone to a blogging conference before?

Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the MckLinky there if you are participating.

Aloha #47

Yesterday, I posted a nostalgic look at some of the toys/momentos that reside in my office. Today, I’m wondering whether I’m alone in collecting such items.

My Aloha Friday question for today is: Does your office contain toys/momentos from past trips or other memorable events? If you don’t have an office, do you have a special place where you place these kinds of things?

Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the MckLinky there if you are participating.

Aloha #46