January, 2012 -

My New Years Resolution for 2012

Random Musings, To Be A Good Dad Comments Off

Jan 312012

I’ve never formally made New Years Resolutions before. And I know, I’m publishing this a month late, but it’s taken me a month to really think about what I want to resolve and so publicly declare. So here they are:

Lose 20 pounds by August.
Learn to code by December
Pass PMP
Write (at least) the first draft of my Book
Master Major System
Master Trachtenberg

OK, let me enumerate why I chose these and why I’m making a public declaration about them.

1. Lose 20 pounds by August. Losing weight is probably the world’s most popular resolution, but I’m starting to feel hypocritical for writing so many posts on “why it’s so important to be fit as a dad” while being 20 pounds overweight myself. Really, I used to be fit, and I am going to claim that most of this weight I gained as what I am calling “sympathy” weight gain. And with Nathan starting to crawl and walk (he’ll definitely be walking by August), I want to be ready to chase him around the park and the beach.

2. Learn to code by December. OK, this one sounds a little weird, but I read this article on slate.com on why learning to code should be on the new year’s resolution list and it made sense to me. On top of which, as I continue to write for this blog and read other blogs and see how other people have configured and set up their sites, I want the ability to make modifications as I see fit without having to rely on someone else doing it for me or being locked into a format preset by the WordPress theme I use. Ultimately I want the skill so that I can pass it along to my son, since, as this article from The Telegraph says, coding is the future and the sooner we can get our kids started the better.

3. Pass the PMP (Project Management Professional) certification. This is more for myself, more of a professional goal. I do a lot of project management at work, have taken a number of courses, so I figure I should get certified. And it’ll help me (in theory) bring home more of the bacon, which is all for the little guy anyway.

4. Write (at least) the first draft of my Book. This one, I’ve actually had on my list (in my head) ever since college. I think I actually have more than two dozen completely different unfinished first drafts floating around on my hard drive somewhere. As part of my effort and promise to be a more efficient and productive dad, and to set a good example for Nate to follow, I will complete at least the first draft in its entirety. If I actually complete the final draft, then good for me, but I’m trying to be realistic here.

5. Master the Major System. In a previous post I mentioned mnemonics and memory training in general. In it, I made a promise that I’d relearn the art of memory and teach it to Nathan when he is born. Well, I wrote that before Nathan’s birth, and now that Nathan is here, it’s time for me to walk the talk. I figure I gotta get good at this stuff before I have any right or hope of teaching it to him, so I think I have about 5 years or so to get good at all of the various mnemonics techniques before he’s old enough for me to start teaching. Heck, if Josh Foer can go from novice to memory champ in one year, I gotta be able to do this in 5, and I’m not trying for national championship status. Incidentally, the Major system is a mnemonic method of memorizing numbers. I deal with numbers all the time so this ought to be the most immediately useful to me…I think.

6. Master the Trachtenberg System. I’m actually going to write a future post about Jakow Trachtenberg and his System of rapid mental calculation. It’s actually an amazing and inspiring story in and of itself, but I mention it here because in the same spirit that I bring up mnemonics and how I plan to teach it to Nathan, I plan on doing the same for this system. So again in the same spirit, I gotta get cracking on getting good at it first. It’s not a complicated system, and one year should be more than enough time for me to learn it.

They say that making a public promise increases the chances that you’ll actually keep that promise. It’s not necessarily true for our political leaders, but I hope it’s true for us new dads. I will periodically post on my progress, maybe once a month. Here goes and wish me luck.

Creative Pop Up Cards 2.0

Dad Stuff Comments Off

Jan 312012

I’ve been sick all last week, and still sick, so my apologies for the lackluster posting history the last few days.

But I wanted to take a few nanoseconds to give a shout out to my buddy Rich’s new website. I’ve written about his site a few times before, and as you may know, Rich is the creator of a site for making pop up cards called creativepopupcards.com. Actually, the site’s the same, but he revamped it and spruced it up something big. He’s also trying to make the site self-sustaining, and rightly so considering how much time he spends on designing and making his cards and upkeeping his site in general. His templates are now downloadable for a fee, although he will also have free stuff too. Check it out, and tell him I sent you there!

Efficient Dad

Things Dad Should Know Comments Off

Jan 212012

OK, that’s a weird title for a post, isn’t it?

Well, I got to thinking about this because of my previous post, the one where I bemoaned how I got nothing done as I had planned.

I also got to thinking about this because I just finished the latest round of reviews at work, and as a senior technical manager juggling a number of different projects at any given time, discussions turned to my triumphs and mistakes and how I can become more efficient at work.

So if I am always looking to become more efficient at work, why not bring that same mindset to being a Dad?

I mean, we have to juggle our day job, our household duties and chores, playing with the kids and thinking and planning for their future, and if you have any dreams or interests of your own, somehow figuring out a way to work it all in to the same 24 hours and 7 days a week that you used to have before you had kids or got married.

To this end, I will start to bring up articles, other sites, and just tips and tricks that I am learning as I get deeper into this daddyhood business.

So to start off, let me start off by introducing a site that I’ve grown to really enjoy over the last few weeks. It’s called the99percent.com, after Edison’s maxim that any genius is 99% perspiration. It’s a site with articles on how to get things done, and make your ideas happen. Anyway, I came across a cool article on their site on how doing is less is sometimes the best way to do more. A paradoxical concept that’s also very cool and zen at the same time. I’ll be coming back to this concept again, but it has a lot to do with the ability to focus and relax, and knowing how to regulate this with the proper rhythm so that when you are focused on doing this, you are truly on it, in the moment. And when you’re relaxed, you are truly able to let go. I am starting to realize that this kind of philosophy is important and applicable for work (where a lot of the articles focus on) but also child rearing.

Best Toys for Kids

Lessons and Info, Things Dad Should Know Comments Off

Jan 202012

Wooden Toys by Garry Knight (Flickr, Creative Commons)

Almost a year ago, I saw this on Wired, and I finally found it. Kinda poignant considering my last post about toys for Nathan.

Here’s Wired Magazine’s Jonathan Liu’s list of the 5 greatest toys of all time.

Stick
Box
String
Cardboard tube
Dirt

The honor of the 6th best toy of all time is more debatable, and Jonathan offers some helpful suggestions (along with his readers and commenters).

Just too funny not to share.

“Educational” Toys for Babies

Lessons and Info Comments Off

Jan 192012

My wife and I have been on a buying binge lately. We’ve been buying toys for Nathan. We are buying stuff that Nathan likes, like his parrot (OK, that one was a gift from friends):

and his elephant:

But we’re also getting him stuff like his donuts:

He’s also got a zillion electronic widgets that blink and beep and sing and do all kinds of things – but funnily enough, he seems to like the simple ones best.

This seems to jive with this article I read on whattoexpect.com. We are so advanced these days that we think the kid’s toys have to light up and sing a song and dance a jig for him for the baby to be interested in it, but Nathan’s favorite toys (so far) are his colored donuts, his colored blocks, and little plush toys (mostly birds – ducks and parrots are the best!). I remember when I was growing up that my favorite toy before the age of 5 were a set of paper bricks – literally little cardboard boxes with the outside having graphics of red bricks so that when you stacked them tjhey looked like brick walls. I think I must’ve spent hours stacking them up then knocking and kicking them down. Loads of fun, that.

Before Nathan was born, I read Brain Rules for Baby by John Medina and one of the anecdotes that the author told was how one year, he opened some fancy toy for his two boys for their Christmas gift, and to his surprise, disappointment, then delight, the boys were infinitely more excited about the boxes the toys came in and they had a grand old time converting those boxes into all kinds of other toys as dictated by their imagination. I was reminded of that story when I saw this on Facebook from a feed of a buddy of mine:

Sorry Alex, but I had to post this – this was too adorable. My buddy made an Optimus Prime costume for his son out of these boxes – the idea was the boy’s, only the scissoring was by his dad. This is just too awesome. I can’t wait until Nathan’s old enough.

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