CurrentMom

Halloween and a Teen

Sharing Saturday

I've been walking around with my 14-year-old son's non-working iPod Shuffle in my jacket pocket for a few weeks now.  On the back, he had it lovingly engraved – "Agent 0.2."  This is his moniker, the image he likes to project to the world.  In his mind, he's Secret Spy Agent Washington Wizard Gilbert Arenas.  In reality, he's a teenager who is trying on different skins until he finds the one that fits.  Unfortunately, that particular shopping expedition requires a lot of unwise decisions along the way.  He is currently grounded for an array of things --  fun times in our house.

I rub the Shuffle between my fingers.  I’ve kept it there ever since I brought it into the Apple store to find out that it is dead, irredeemable, might as well buy another.  But it reminds me of my son about a year ago, when he was eagerly saving up for this big purchase.

Hoop it up ... like Barack Obama

Fatherhood Friday

That President Barack Obama is a sports guy isn't news, but his men-only basketball game is. Whether it's bad politics or not isn't for this forum. But to all the dads out there I have one bit of advice: be like Barack. And to all their wives: you want your husbands to be like Barack Obama. 

Like today's moms, dads spend a lot of time in a lot of roles. After spending all week as a dad, husband, career man, etc. there rarely is enough time or energy to simply be a guy. Some of you might be thinking, "well, okay, but that's a luxury, or even just a reminder of days gone by." I'm not proposing we need to spend an inordinate amount of time trying to live a beer commercial lifestyle, but I think guy time is much more than a luxury. It's a necessity.

I play in a weekly basketball game that I've come to realize has brought more balance to my life than I could have imagined when I first started. Not only does playing in it make sure I get regular exercise but, much more important, it gives me time to hang with other guys. In between or after games we get to talk about, well, whatever. 

The topics of conversation don't really matter. It's the chance to talk with friends (or even people I hardly know) and simply rebalance. Maybe we'll talk about innocuous topics, like sports or politics, or maybe we'll talk about real life stuff, like jobs and families. And whether it's a chance to simply balance the other parts of our lives by doing or talking about "guy stuff," or if it gives us perspective to take back to our jobs, homes and families, it makes us better men.

Tools for Ubiquitous Data Access

Image by yto via Flickr

Technology Thursday

I'm not always sitting at my desk so access to data and files when I'm not right at my desktop computer is important. There are several tools that make ubiquitous data access easier than ever.

Much has been written about the challenges presented by certain kinds of jobs that require you to be nearly-constantly accessible and checking in, at least by email, very frequently. I have one of those jobs, myself, as it turns out. But I don't have anything new to say today about that problem. It is a big problem. The incentives are all poorly-structured. And the random nature of email makes us all behave like those little rats pushing levers to get their randomly-apportioned tasty pellets. (If I recall correctly, those rats eventually went insane.)

Just yesterday, for example, I was home with a sick kid. In a better world, I would have focused time and attention on him. He was in decent spirits, albeit feverish. Instead, I tried to shoehorn a bit of work into very narrow timeslices (and made a few minor although irritating mistakes doing so). And I kept glancing at my email. And 'lo and behold it wasn't just the usual back-and-forth about current projects. But two new interesting opportunities related to past work flowed in to my inbox. See, if you keep checking your email often enough, something nice will show up! (Let's just not discuss all the irritating Dilbertian messages that are more common.)

But anyway, I'm feeling unbalanced and don't want to talk about work-life balance or how we're all supposed to stay connected all the time. Instead, I want to talk about what might be thought of as the dual to that problem. I want access to my digital stuff wherever I am all the time.

Halloween Fright: A Working Mom's Seasonal Frenzy

Work Wednesday

My three year old son has had a fierce preference for orange since he first learned his color words.  He wears mainly orange clothes and eats orange foods. Unfortunately, Cheetos, rather than sweet potatoes are his favorite - but rarely indulged - orange fix. (He does do carrots and cantaloupe, though, on a regular basis.)

So, perhaps it was inevitable that he would choose Halloween as his favorite holiday. For nearly a year - since last Halloween, really - he's been anticipating the costumes, the pumpkins, and the candy.   Especially, the candy corn.

Apparently, he's not alone.  Halloween, as just about every parent knows, is HUGE!  According to the National Retail Federation, overall spending on Halloween this year is expected to reach $4.75 billion.  (Per capita consumer spending, though, is expected to be down dramatically from last  year because of the recession.)  And the Census Bureau estimated last year that 36 million American kids, between the ages of 5 and 13, go trick-or-treating.  Many other older and younger kids (plus their parents) go trick-or-treating too, bringing the numbers up even more.

Now, I'm no Halloween Scrooge. I enjoyed dressing up, trick-or-treating in the neighborhood, and watching It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown when I was a kid. (I always pitied and admired Linus' persistent belief in the Great Pumpkin's imminent arrival.)

But the holiday's ever-expanding scope is, frankly, frightening. 

High Tea...Because There Are Some Things You Just Have To Do!

Travel Tuesday
 
There are some things in life you just have to do, and High Tea is one of them… well in our humble travelling opinion, that is. We try and partake in this time-honoured tradition in as many fabulous places as possible.

High Tea is described as (according to dictionary.com) "a late afternoon or early evening meal similar to a light supper." But i'’s so much more that that. It's pure indulgence, enabling the momentary departure from normal by being transported into a bygone era, that really plays the heartstrings. High Tea kind of works hand in hand with the old time dances that used to be standard operating procedure on a Saturday night. High Tea is something that has to be experienced to be believed. And it certainly doesn't do your taste buds any harm either!

When we walked into the foyer of the pink Mount Nelson Hotel in Cape Town, we knew we were in the right place, as you can see from the photo. That's Daughter standing next to one of the selection of gourmet delights that stand High Tea out from the crowd. Yes, it is a high-class afternoon tea where you get to sit for a few hours, and try everything that's within your reach. It really is a marvellous experience, and the most decadent version of "having a cuppa."