Watching me, watching you - Google Analytics makes it possible

As I reach the 2 month point of having this blog, it got me to wondering how many people have actually viewed this blog and from where. About a month ago, I signed up with Google Analytics which allows anyone with a website or blog to view the amount, frequency, and location of where traffic to a site is coming from. I mainly did it to see if any readers would come by and visit my blog. While there haven't been thousands of visits over the past month, it turned out to be almost a couple hundred. Ultimately this blog has been for myself and noting things that I've found interesting concerning my kids and whatever else has been on my mind.

The scary, but also neat aspect of this too,l is the ability to see where readers are from - right down to their town, analyze how long they visit, and see if any of them are repeat visitors. The kind of scary-neat thing about this is that I can see on which days my blog garnered more interest, and therefore determine the most popular blog entries. Based on ratings, I could then take that data and create entries that grab the most attention. Although this might seem kind of cool, wouldn't this pinpointing of information and catering new blog entries to the user interest specifically, potentially quash other blog entries that I might actually want to write about, only because I want to satisfy what the public wants? I'm sure if I entered some lewd, profane words in my blog and threw in some dirty pictures, interest would go way up and that might draw attention to me. Is that what any one really wants?

The Google Analytic tool is cool to have in place, but I won't let that determine where my blog goes or what it is I say in my blog. Perseverance in this thing will pay off for someone in the end. But remember, I have the power to watch you, and I see if you're really looking at my blog, so you better pay attention! ;-)

Click here to see the report on my blog from the past month: Click here!

Viva la Piscina! The summer would be unbearable without a pool to go to.

Before moving into our first home 5 years ago, the concept of an organized subdivision was something that seemed very conservative and restricting as a homeowner. Confronted with the reality that moving into a house in the South required mandatory membership into the community "Homeowners' Association" or HOA, and with that, yearly membership dues, I wondered if it made more sense to buy an unincorporated home in a neighborhood without dues and HOA restrictions. We ultimately settled on a community that is quite organized and has a wonderful pool and recreation area. At $400 per year, the dues aren't too bad, considering the amenities that are included with our home.

Since having children, the pool amenity of our community has been wonderful. We used to not frequent it as often when we were child-less, but with kids, it makes for a day of "sun and fun" and it wears the kids out quickly. Plus, it's a great meeting place for other families with kids to meet up and catch up on all things parenting and kids. There are only about 3 weeks left to this year's pool season, and so it will be something that we'll miss. Even though we gripe and grumble whenever our community HOA dues are up each year, we need to realize how good things are when pool season starts and how much use we get out of it.

Never leave home! The World just got a whole lot smaller.

With the new "Street View" feature on GoogleMaps, you never have to leave the comfort of your home to see the world up-close. Watch the vlog for more:

Tony Whaley talks about Google "Street View"

...Oh brother, they named their kid what?!?-Part 3

This story popped up on Yahoo! and everywhere else today. It'll definitely go in the "Odd News" file. I think it's a fitting story to go into my goofy name series. "Talula Does The Hula" - Need I say more?

"Let's go to the library!"....The what?

The other day while out running errands with my son, I thought of something that he and I could do to pass the time and keep him busy. We were driving in our downtown, and I thought, "Hmm...we haven't been to the library in a while.", so after the errands were done, we drove over to the library. I've been to the library with my son a couple of times over the past year, but driving in to the parking lot and seeing my son react to the news that we were going to the library, really got him excited and interested in going. Getting out of the car upon arrival, he was full of energy and pulling at me to move faster. Once we got in there, he seemed to know which section to go to and what books he wanted to have a look at. We ended up staying for about a 1/2 hour, and I ended up checking out 5 books for him.

While I'm happy that he's happy about going to the library, the act of going to the library, checking the books out, and reading them over and over at home gives me a bit of pause about this resource. I'm glad that my 3 year old son is enthusiastic about about getting books and having them read to him, but I wonder in this day and age, what with the Internet and countless other diversions, how many kids still go to the library, or for that matter, care to actually read anymore. Although my son watches his share of TV each day, there are times in the day where he's content to simply have a book read to him. If reading a book is enlightening to him (which it is) and makes him happy (which it does), the chore of going to the library is worth everything. With the temptation of fancy and cool gizmos all around, electronic and online virtual games, HD TVs, and of course the Internet, I hope the simple act of going to the library, picking out a book, and holding it in hand and reading it continues. I'm afraid though that it's a tradition which will die out eventually because of overall lack of interest.

"I'm going to do my blog entry", says my 3 year old

This is going to be real quick, but my 3 year old son is really into "pretend play" right now. His main thing right now is playing "Chef Pisghetti", the chef from the Curious George cartoons on PBS. He loves playing Chef Pisghetti from the show, and imagines himself making all sorts of dishes and then serving them to us.

This morning though, while my wife and I were eating breakfast and he was playing away, my son came up to me and said, "Daddy, I'm going to write my blog entry now." Blog entry? From a 3 year old? O.k., there's a ton of stuff that he says which he picks up from my wife and I, but to say that he's going to write a blog entry blew us away!

If the question of whether blogs are a fad, I'd have to say that if a 3 year old mentions blogs, I think the future of blogs is pretty safe.

At home on a "staycation"

I've been home all week on a "staycation" - a vacation week off from work, but with the emphasis on staying home during the time off. Ok, there was a brief 4 day getaway that began last week and carried on into the weekend, but as far as traveling indulgences go, that was about it for this week and the rest of the year for that matter. I'm using the week to take care of chores around the house, end of semester school work, and of course, taking a load off of my wife's shoulders in watching the kids during the day. Before gas prices went crazy and the U.S. Dollar lost most of its value against world currencies, my thoughts about vacation were always focused on "the next vacation", as in, "Where are we going next?" With belt-tightening the focus of most American families nowadays, the "staycation" is the place to be when it comes to thinking about "Where are we going next?"

Being home, which is seemingly hum-drum and routine simply because it's home, has it's appeal. There are plenty of things to do around the house, toys for my son to play with, things for dad to fix, a community pool to frequent, and a familiar bed and pillow that await at night. It may not be some far off locale, with exotic food to eat, but it is home. Even though the "staycation' may be the vacation spot of choice this year for our family (and many other families I'm sure), I can always dream of the far and distant locations that would be fun to travel to and visit someday. After all, the places I'd like to visit someday aren't going anywhere, at least not anytime soon, so staying at home on a "staycation" isn't so bad, and I can dream of where we'll be going someday.

Obama bumper sticker or not - it's tough in a "red" state

A fellow Grad school classmate and blogger commented on my post about Obama coming to my town last week for a "town hall" meeting, and echoed his enthusiasm about feeling comfortable about finally being able to come out of the woods in terms of supporting a Democrat candidate and not feeling weird about it. His comments prompted me to think about my own optimism for this year's election, with that optimism tempered by a slight feeling of trepidation about openly supporting Barack Obama for President. I'd like to place an "Obama '08" sticker on my beat-up Honda Civic, but I'm a bit fearful of what would happen to me or my car if I went ahead and affixed the sticker as I'd like to.

You see, I live in a very "red" part of suburban Atlanta, Georgia, where "good ol' boys" and "W" stickers run rampant. I'm afraid of getting my car tires slashed, run off the road, or getting non-stop dirty looks as I drive around. Why should I feel this way though? It's not like Barack Obama or the Democrats are some fringe, weirdo party, or Communists (but judging by talk radio, Obama and the Democrats might as well be sporting scarlet letter "L's" on their shirts to alert others to their presence).

I know that I'll eventually put the sticker on my car, but after 8 years of being shoved into a corner and hearing that being a liberal or a progressive is bad, I'm really starting to feel like, "The last 8 years have been the worst for this country in its entire history!", and nothing could possibly be worse than what we've had. I guess it's going to take Democrats and progressive-minded individuals some time to get over the repressed feelings they've experienced over the past years. I'm gradually seeing more and more Obama stickers on cars in my area of town, so maybe my car will be the next one that sports one.

You will love "The Backyardigans"...you will love them.....

Part of watching a toddler grow up is a study in observing their TV viewing habits as they gradually get older. Initially, my son started out with the "Baby Einstein" series, then moved onto "Sesame Street", followed by a phase of a new show each week, until he settled on his latest and most favorite show, "The Backyardigans". He's been watching "The Backyardigans" for the better part of 9 months now, and there's no let up in his desire to watch more episodes. It's a fun show to watch, and the 5 characters in the show, Pablo, Tasha, Tyrone, Uniqua, and Austin, all meet up in the yard behind their houses, and proceed to go on adventures built on their imaginations. It's a really fun show to watch, and the songs the characters sing are very catchy and tied to some music genre in music history ("Rock", "Be-bop", "Salsa", "Cabaret", etc.). I catch myself singing the songs on my commute to work in the morning, or to myself while I'm at work.

The other day though, my son, along with some of his friends, watched a "blast from the past" - the old "Schoolhouse Rock!" series that's been re-issued on DVD. I have fond memories of this series when I watched it 30 years ago on ABC, either on Saturday mornings, or in the afternoons, combined with an "ABC Afterschool Special". Watching some of the clips in the corner of my eye as my son watched the DVD, I couldn't help but think about how the TV viewing and broadcasting times have changed. This was an instructional series, with episodes such as "Conjunction Junction", "I'm Just a Bill", or "Three is a Magic Number", and the whole idea that the ABC network would broadcast this show out of the goodness of its heart kind of baffles me now when I think of it. Sure, there is the occasional Public Service Announcement that comes on the air nowadays, but nothing like "Schoolhouse Rock!" It seems that now, everything is geared towards ratings and keeping the shifting attention spans of the little kiddos glued to TV sets. Some would probably wonder about "Schoolhouse Rock!" if it ever came on the air, and go "Huh?" I don't get it!"

At least with my kid's current show obsession of "The Backyardigans", there are no commercial interruptions of the show, even though it appears on a for-profit, cable channel. Plus, if my son ever wants to watch a show again, we tape everything around here, so even if there were commercials, he wouldn't have to sit through any of that useless garbage. So, I guess until he discovers the next show that interests him, it'll be "The Backyardigans" for a while longer around here. I'll just add this show to the memory of shows I use to watch as a kid.

Travelling with kids? Take lots of "stuff" with you.

There's a George Carlin skit that I remember as a kid that left an impression on me, and which sort of describes a trip from this past weekend as it pertains to taking a condensed version of our home with us for this trip.

George Carlin "Stuff" skit

I just got back from a weekend "getaway" to the north Georgia mountains with my family and two other families. We rented a mountain cabin for four days of relaxation and family time. While we all had a good time and relaxed as best we could with kids running around everywhere, the planning that goes into such a trip becomes a logistical nightmare and it's something that requires patience, checklists, and lots of second-guessing ("Did we remember to bring that ...(fill in the blank with whatever item)? or "Did you remember to turn off the ... (fill in with any kind of appliance)?).

The funny thing about going on a trip with kids is that you're packing things that allow the kids to have a sort of comfort level around them, which ends up resembling a smaller version of the things they have around them at home. Favorite plush toys, games, blankets, DVDs of shows, particular sippy cups and dining utensils - all these things and more, go into making a quick trip to the mountains an excursion that's worthy of having a brigade of Sherpas at our beck and call to make the trip happen. In our case, the Sherpas just so happen to be us, the parents. Man, kids don't realize how lucky they have it when it comes to going on trips and making sure that their "stuff" comes along!

Weekend Getaway to Blue Ridge, Georgia

Trying to get a picky eater to change

My wife and I joke that my son is on the "white food diet": Plain noodles, unseasoned rice, plain white bread, vanilla ice cream, and gallons of milk. It's frustrating to both of us, because despite our efforts at getting him to try new foods, he always falls back to his old "favorites". Even though I keep reassuring myself and my wife that this is only just a phase in the life of our 3 year old, I think to myself, "Man, he's missing out on a lot of good and diverse foods!", and my worry is that he'll never develop a taste for exotic foods. Friends of ours with kids his own age are going through similar "food fights", but somehow I think that our son is a bit extreme in not wanting to eat new foods. O.k., I'm happy that my son has never had a Coca Cola or a soft drink in his life, that he's not really into candy or chocolate (although the few times he's had it, he's said, "I like it!"), and junk food in general says nothing to him. He loves water, plain noodles, whole milk, rice, and the most basic of pizza - cheese pizza.

Hopefully, when his baby sister comes of age and is able to eat on her own, she'll show more of an interest in varied foods, and show her older brother that new foods are o.k. to try. If he doesn't like them after at least trying them, he can opt out of trying them. Baby sister's got a way to go with eating exotic and more adult fare, so the wait will continue until our toddler eats something new.

...Oh brother, they named their kid what?!?-Part 2

"Your son's name is Hayden? My son's name is Kayden!" - an exchange that was overheard between two moms at the community pool the other day.

I won't go into explicit detail about why I find the above two names annoying, they just are to me. Something about them just doesn't sound real or grounded in family history. Kayden??? Huh???

Tonight I read two blurbs on the subject of bad names, and felt compelled to write something about it and carry on with my previous rant on kids' names.

From the SFGate.com newspaper website, there was a write up in the "Daily Dish" section of the site, that dishes out gossip and stories about celebrities. One item was on Chris Martin, the lead singer of the band "Coldplay", and the reasoning behind the naming of his two kids, Apple and Moses. Ok, the names are bit a quirky and New Age-y, and they really seem to annoy me because I'm thinking, "What were Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin thinking when they named their kids that? They seem to be smart people!" I guess it's because they can, just like every parent can, when it comes to naming kids. As far as Chris Martin goes, he doesn't see any fuss in any of it, and according to him, his kids' names might as well be "noise", as in "Hey 'Noise'", because to him a name is just a noise that one speaks. Huh? For more on Chris Martin, read here: "Chris Martin Defends 'Unusual' Baby Names".

In another article from "Parents" magazine, there was a whole advice-type article titled "What Your Doctor, Babysitter, Preschool Teacher (And All The Other Pros In Your Life) Really Want You To Know." Under "The Parenting Expert", their advice to the question of what rule no parent should violate, it's bad kids names. The expert says:

"Don't give your child an annoying name. Especially, do not name your kid after a character in a movie. Nobody wants to end up being named Morpheus because his dad was really into 'The Matrix'. That's just plain idiotic." - P. 96, Parents Magazine, July 2008

Ha! I felt somewhat vindicated in reading that tonight. I usually don't get upset about most things, but as I stated in my earlier post about kids names, bad kids names are simply my pet peeve.

Barack comes to my town tomorrow!!! Whoo Hoo!!!

When I opened my e-mail on this past Saturday, I received an e-mail from the Obama campaign announcing that Barack would be holding a town hall meeting at the local high school here in Powder Springs. I closed the e-mail upon glancing at it, and did a classic double-take, when I realized, "Barack is coming to my little town in Georgia!" Now, I know Powder Springs was probably chosen because it's within an extremely Republican leaning county in Georgia, Cobb, but also close to Atlanta, where he and his campaign can quickly get in an out of (he's in Atlanta tonight for a fundraiser dinner) but also make his pitch in a normally conservative area.

As soon as I found out about the event and saw that tickets were free for the town hall event, my heart sank with the feeling of ,"Oh, the tickets are already gone". And gone they were. I'm happy about that, because it re-affirms my belief that a huge groundswell of support exists for the Democrats in this state, it's just that we've been relegated into hiding over the past 8 years. It's good to see Barack coming into a hornet's nest and challenging the status quo.

On my way to work tomorrow morning, there's a part of me that wants to play hookie and go on over and at least stand outside amongst the thousands to be a part of what I think will be history this November. I probably won't go, but I'm at least a bit warm and fuzzy inside knowing that there's a movement for change out there, and it's happening in my "red" backyard.

Waste Not, Want Not

To my three year old son, fine dining means peanut butter sandwiches (no crust), rotini noodles (hold the sauce) and as much milk as he can drink (slightly warmed in the microwave). Some goldfish crackers as an appetizer and a few M&Ms as a dessert round out the meal for him.

For the sake of the other patrons as well as our own sanity, my wife and I have pretty much put "fine dining" on hold for the next couple of years, at least when we are accompanied by our children. Then we discovered the all-you-can-eat (or, politically more correct, all-you-care-to-eat) pizza buffet. Not only is it incredibly affordable for adults, children up to 3 years old eat for free. Since our son added cheese pizza to his diet, we have frequented the local establishment on an almost weekly basis.

We would like to take the opportunity to teach our kids that even when you are confronted with 17 different types of pizza as well as a selection of pastas and a salad bar, you should carefully consider how much you will actually be able to eat before you heap food on your plate. Each time we walk in there, we are saddened by the abandoned tables with piles of plates with food on them or, in one case, a huge pile of left-over pizza crusts. In this day and age of tight budgets, and high gasoline and food prices, isn't it important that we all do our part to be more mindful of waste? When did it become acceptable to just throw away food like that?

I am sure the restaurant still makes a profit; after all, they wouldn't be in business otherwise. It would just be nice if people could set a better example for their (and our!) children, and improve their own health in the process.