Thanks.

I work supporting Lijit with a range of blog publishers, many who's topic includes or is specifically on the subject of faith. This a huge range from the deeply religious, through agnostic, to atheist.

I found out this year agnostic means you believe in something, but may not be sure what that something is. I am agnostic. I believe in "Thanks." And I find "Thanks" sprinkled in among many publishers, whatever their opinion or place in life. Thanks for this, publishers. I'm starting to think people who are thankful are also writers. Those grumpy negative publishers? It's an act. They are thankful, but they wont tell.

I give thanks to people and my dogs. Sometimes I say "Thanks" to no one, but I mean it. I am saying 'Thank You' to something. It's snowing outside our Lijit offices as I write this and I'm really thankful our often arid Colorado is being kissed right now by beautful, perfect, unique crystals of water today. Even if I slip in it. Thanks.

Someone I'm related to, complained they are too short, and another person I am legally related to, said "Be thankful you have legs." I watch the dad from the little people show scoot around on crutches running his family and life and being positive and I give thanks to him and his wife and the smart people who thought the world could learn something seeing them live life. Thanks.

If you have not given thanks, try it. No one needs to know even. Thanks.

Barney Moran Grateful Word

Worthless crap vs. Marriage

My wife has a rule. "If you don't use it within 12 months, throw it away."

I have a rule. "Keep every piece of crap you can acquire, and create a reason for keeping it."

The conflict occurs because besides being married, my wife and I live together. In our home are the trailing remains of my rule. Apple ImageWriter’s are an example, I have 2 waiting patiently for the time I have foreseen, when I will need to print on a triplicate form. Newfangled printers don’t have the steroids to punch past a single page. These ImageWriter print heads are groups of hammers, last century straight forward approaches to hammering the friggin ink against the page. You understand me? Punch the ink. None of this fancy spray/thermal sissy printing. Smash the ink on the page, ok?

You think I'm going to throw this away?

You think my wife is going to keep me?

Oh, yes, Fatherhood

I teach "Daddy Boot Camp" at Foothills Hospital, in Boulder, CO. I have 3-4 hours to cover a mandatory curriculum on: living with a pregnant spouse; the delivery day(s) of the baby; the first three (3) months of life with baby(ies) and post delivery spouse for the new, expectant father, to expect.

Near the end of the class, the expectant father's eyes glazed over, if I am lucky, I remember the most important item. I tell them. Being a father is heaven on earth. The love of your child, time together, is priceless. To repose on the sofa with your child sleeping on you is among the greatest joy's available to us on this earth. When we raise our own children, we may, when necessary, if necessary, unwrinkle kinks from our childhood, 'right' some wrongs.

We may, ENJOY our children. We may, be dad.

Parent Perspectives on Center On Media and Child Health

Monthly-ish the Center On Media and Child Health (CMCH) Website posts teachers, researchers, and personal parent perspectives on their unique approach, experience, and concerns on the role of Media in children's development.

These perspective's supplement the 'cut through the crap' content I love about the CMCH's site, with real stories from, well, parents; like us. The front line. My families perspective is posted for this November:


Our Family Perspective on Media and our Children on CMCH
( http://www.cmch.tv/mentors_parents/pp_barney.asp )

Ok, its mostly my perspective as a dad and sometimes not so great monitor of media and our two girls. But my wife did edit it and try to make me come off a bit better. I mean, do they look media saturated? What? Your kids aren't wearing white gloves? Hey! Della! You said " 'everyone' had them"!

From CMCH reading, I am paying more attention to both our kids saturated fats AND media saturation, thank you very much.

The Center is open to both Mom and Dad's perspective (s), so DADS (and Moms!) if you have a perspective for your family and the Media, contact CMCH. They are open and interested in sharing Parent's views.

Center On Media and Child Health (CMCH) Contact:

300 Longwood Avenue | Boston, MA 02115 | (617) 355-2000 | cmch@childrens.harvard.edu

Daddy Boot Camp THIS November 10th at Foothills Hospital in Boulder, CO.

Start Time: 9am

Foothills Hospital
Boulder Community Foothills Hospital
4747 Arapahoe
Boulder, Colorado 80303
(720) 854-7000 The hospital is located at the northwest corner of Arapahoe and 48th Street, near Foothills Parkway in east Boulder. Click here for a map and directions.

Boulder's Daddy Boot Camp Saturday, THIS NOVEMBER 10th at Foothills Hospital in Boulder, CO!

Expectant Dads do their part to prep for the asteroid headed for their home, including the basics of changing a babies diaper.

As facilitator, I get to help dads prep for the final weeks of a pregnant partner, birth, and the first three months of life with a baby (and Mom!).

I never had this class for myself when my first kid was born, and I had no idea what Dr. Austin meant when he showed me the umbilical cord. Cut what? Then the placenta came out and I got dizzy. Just a little prep, people, would have saved me a lot. That's why there's Daddy Boot Camp!

November 10th class is full. To check on our 2008 Class openings and register (Required), contact:

Coreen Schmidt

Executive Director

St. Vrain Family Center
P.O. Box 2174
Longmont, CO 80502-2174
Phone: (303) 776-5348

www.stvrainfamilycenter.org



If you are a Veteran Dad with a baby under 1 year old, PLEASE COME ANYTIME DURING THE CLASS For Free Coffee, Pastries, and a NICE CIGAR. If you know a dad with a child under 1 year old and bring him with his child to the class, your class fee will be REFUNDED.

Thanks,

Barney Moran
Boot Camp Facilitator

Center on Media and Child Health

My day Job is working for Lijit, we provide a network search tool (called a Wijit) for Blog Publishers. Sometimes, as I support Publishers using Lijit, I come across sites helpful for parents.

Center on Media and Child Health is certainly one parents should visit, and get on their email list or just subscribe to their feed so you know when they post. They have a monthly e-newsletter for parents, please use and pass on this link to other dads or moms: www.cmch.tv/newsletter.asp

As a father of two girls, I am very, very concerned with how they view themselves and others, and how the idea of beauty should encompass the entire person, and not be based on perceived looks.

Yes, this is my personal parent propaganda here, but I think perception of beauty, especially for young women, is a critical component of how their evolving minds perceive the world and themselves now and when they are adults.

Center on Media and Child Health covers research and news about the effects of media on the health of children and adolescents. But don't let the 'research' or fantastic credentials of the site's hosts ( Children's Hospital Boston, Harvard Medical School, and Harvard School of Public Health) scare you away. The posts are street savvy and take Marketer and Advertisers HEAD ON.

You simply will learn more about the media's workings on your child's brain at Center on Media and Child Health's website than any other site I've come across. And TV, Internet, magazines at home begin at birth for many families, so this information is relevant even for our new dads and moms.

http://cmch.typepad.com/cmch/

Video airing of Boot Camp for New Dads at Northside Hospital in Atlanta

Here is the link to The Today Show airing of Boot Camp for New Dads at Northside Hospital in Atlanta.

If you haven’t been to a class, this is the next best way to get an idea of what we do:


You can see the story here: http://video.msn.com/v/us/msnbc.htm?g=3679d5ab-796f-43e4-990b-9277c13e088d&f=00&fg=


"Our mission is to help assure every child a father they can count on, no matter what."

Daddy Boot Camp September 8th at Foothills Hospital in Boulder, CO.

Boulder's Daddy Boot Camp Saturday, September 8th at Foothills Hospital in Boulder, CO!

Expectant Dads did their part to prep for the asteroid headed for their home, including the basics of changing a babies diaper.

As facilitator, I get to help dads prep for the final weeks of a pregnant partner, birth, and the first three months of life with a baby (and Mom!).

I never had this class for myself when my first kid was born, and I had no idea what Dr. Austin meant when he showed me the umbilical cord. Cut what? Then the placenta came out and I got dizzy. Just a little prep, people, would have saved me a lot. That's why there's Daddy Boot Camp!

Start Time: 9am

Foothills Hospital
Boulder Community Foothills Hospital
4747 Arapahoe
Boulder, Colorado 80303
(720) 854-7000 The hospital is located at the northwest corner of Arapahoe and 48th Street, near Foothills Parkway in east Boulder. Click here for a map and directions.

November 10th class may have an opening. To check and register (Required), contact:

Coreen Schmidt

Executive Director

St. Vrain Family Center
P.O. Box 2174
Longmont, CO 80502-2174
Phone: (303) 776-5348

www.stvrainfamilycenter.org



If you are a Veteran Dad with a baby under 1 year old, PLEASE COME ANYTIME DURING THE CLASS For Free Coffee, Pastries, and a NICE CIGAR. If you know a dad with a child under 1 year old and bring him with his child to the clasee, your class fee will be REFUNDED.

Thanks,

Barney & Andy & Bill
Boot Camp Facilitators

Dad does not know everything

My day job is for Lijit Networks, we provide a neat customizable search wijit for your blog. It's right over there on the left, see?

Here is an email I wrote today to Dr. Carlos N. Velez, Ph. D. thanking him for using our Wijit on his The Life Sciences in New York State Blog. His recent post concerns the Chinese beginning to understand the importance of FAILURE, and I am a personal fan of Failure as it relates to raising children. Here is my email sent today:

*

Hey there Carlos. I noticed that you signed up for an account with us recently and wanted to thank you for putting our Search Wijit on The Life Sciences in New York State.

In the interest of insuring a positive Lijit experience, I was wondering if you had any feedback for us concerning the sign-up process and the installation of the wijit. We are a growing company and the development team counts on your comments to improve what we’re doing.

My job is to help Lijit Blog users with any questions about using Lijit. Let me know if there is anyone of your blog peers you think would also benefit from using our network search tool as well. I grew up in Suffern, NY, and my mom taught elementary in Spring Valley, NY for over 30 years. I see so many blogs that all try to tackle some big issue, and it’s rare and welcome when a blog takes a unique and helpful niche, such as Life Sciences. (Whispers: It’s the true power of the blog platform).

I am lucky enough at Lijit to be given as much time as I need to read our Lijit Blogs, and I like to dig around, and avoid just commenting on recent posts. However FAILURE! I love failure. I love the Chinese are understanding failure. It is a sign of maturity, both for an individual, and a state, to embrace and ponder failure and all it communicates. As a father of two daughters, I am often a “Failure Cheerleader.” An in Boulder, where we moved from the east coast over a decade ago, and back in NYC, there are many parents who run from failure, are frightened by it, protect against it. One of my favorite questions asked by my first daughter was “Daddy, do you know everything?” She was 6 or 7 then, and I was taken totally off guard. I did not answer immediately, though one voice in my head said, “Say ‘YES’ Dads are supposed to know everything.” But I pondered for what seemed a forever pause, her looking at me with big eyes, me picturing some other kid at school declaring her dad “Knew Everything.”

“Well”, I finally answered, “I learn things from YOU. So I don’t know everything.”

Also, I wanted to make sure you’ve checked out your Lijit stats page. We offer information about how your readers came to your blog and what they searched for while on your blog, both of which can be used to get a better sense of your audience. Along with the weekly stats email that we send you, we’ll also include tips on how to better utilize your wijit, news of recent upgrades and the addition of new features. Thanks for taking the time to check us out, for Life Sciences in New York State, and have a great day!
*

My Kingdom for an IKEA! [In Denver]

Dietche was adamant. “What is it about you American’s and Furniture? It is SOOOOOO EXPENNNSIVVVVE”

Dietche and her Family were in Boulder for over three years from the Netherlands on a Work Visa, an opportunity for my kids to learn about Dutch customs (and make some forever friends), and for them to learn about America.

One thing we learned is the Dutch like to change their living environment often, at least once a year, and they depend on a single, primary source to do this well but affordably: IKEA.

My wife loves IKEA so much, when we went to visit Grammy this summer in Northern New Jersey, she penciled a day to visit the IKEA built by the infamous clover leave highway juncture of Rte.17 and Rte.4 in Bergen County, New Jersey.

ALEXANDER’s department store commanded the North West corner of this heavily travelled CloverLeaf for years, but in the 1980’s fell into disrepair and finally was boarded up. My last visit last century to Alexander’s found if transformed into rows of folding tables piled high with discount clothes, and people wearing discount clothes were rummaging through them.

Donald Trump, riding high on a sparse quarter of profits from his sporadic casino business, engaged the city of Paramus about developing the lucrative acreage into a mall, but came away from the experience (with the Mayor of Paramus and his Brother who owned the Bergen Mall directly across the highway) announcing in the papers ‘Paramus is the most corrupt town I have ever seen.’

Yet corruption has an enemy, it is capitalism, and the tax base Paramus’s boarded up Alexander’s was losing over the years was more than a Mayor and his Brother could defend, but they needed to fill the lot with an alternative to a Mall, and the wily Dutch made the move.

Spend the day at a Furniture Store? I thought, but as a smart husband I don’t question itinerary. Write that down dads: Don’t question Itinerary.

And she was right. Plenty of easy parking. Escalator takes us up to the entrance, and right there is …. Is… MY GOD….. they take the kids????!!!!! For a whole HOUR, you can leave your kids with nice older women who supervise them in a play area. SOLD.

Then there is the actual STUFF IKEA stock. Sofa’s and shelves and things to make your house look and feel cool, all cheaper than anything hawked on Craig’s List. And smart stuff, stuff like the Japanese figured out for Automobiles back in early 1980’s, like cup holders, but at IKEA it’s for your HOME. The shrinkable hanging closet caddy made of netting and a single open holes for holding shoes, socks, toys, shirts. The Table that bolts to a wall for folding up (Perfect for tight NYC studio living or the kids room in a house). Oh, heck you go find out the rest. Plus there are inexpensive adornments, artwork, hangings, all the stuff Dietche wanted to make a change every spring, you know, change the darn place we are in with the kids all the time, CHANGE. With an IKEA in town it’s easy. With American Furniture stores, it’s a second mortgage.

But the wily Dutch don’t stop there. The hours is up, we have more stuff in our cart then can fit on the return plane flight, and we have to get the kids. At the exit is IKEA’s Swedish cafeteria! For the price of a Big Crap, IKEA provides a plate of 15 Swedish meatballs steamed, with 2 red potatoes, string beans and a refillable drink. We fed Mom, Dad, our 2 kids a filling wholesome meal for $15.

So back in Boulder, CO, we are working to get an IKEA here, ASAP. IKEA did answer our email, they WANT a store in the DENVER area, but finding a lot big enough for the IKEA footprint is tough, and I’m sure, like Paramus, NJ, there is vested interest in keeping IKEA away from Denver consumers. So be it, I am currently looking for a lot near DIA big enough for IKEA, and will keep them posted.

Barney Moran

Grateful Dad

Related Links:

Positive Fanatics

Chocolate Egg Choking Advisory

If your child is of eating hard food age, please review this advisory from DADTALK about kids choking on Chocolate Eggs:

http://dadtalk.typepad.com/dadtalk/2007/07/is-this-candy-a.html

Dead Goldfish

DEAD GOLDFISH

We want to assist the kids in learning. We want them to have fish. We wait until the day they come home from a play date, having seen a peers pet turtle, and ask for the turtle [or if your living in Boulder, a Red Necked Leaping Lizard who eats live Grasshoppers from Mongolia, sold only by the 4 ear-ringed proprietor of the alley pet shack open at random hours and smelling of Patchouli, sea salt & algae].

“Fish” of course, you answer. “A Goldfish.” Thus the balances, between helping our kids learn, and reducing the steady supply of feces this whole parenting scheme generates.

Caring for Fish is good for a 9 year old. She learns about creating an environment. Controlling it with adjusting chemicals and testing PH and ammonia. “What’s ammonia?” the 9 year old asks. “Pee., the fishes Pee” I answer. This is my passive aggression for all the years the kids left their feces in the toilet bowl for my unasked review of their excrement. ‘See! The price must be paid for Pee.!’

There is slow dulling of our personal cultural senses as we are forced, over the years, to view the human experience as hosts to these youngin’s, running around chewing carrots and oblivious to the mess we pick up in a never ending stupor.

“Just like my childhood” I joke to my Neighbor Andy, as he fishes through a box of Knee Protectors because our 6 year olds are complaining about the ‘fit’ as they roller blade. “Dad bending over, spending hours trying to find just the right sports gear for us.” “Right” Andy answers, “My dad would pull up to the 7-11 with our car full of 4 boys. We would ask, “Can we get something? He would give us his one squint-eyed no of a look ‘are you nuts?’, and disappear, returning with his pack of Camels .” My dad left before I turned Two, I just remember one day the long hairy tattooed arm was no longer stretched across the front seat of the car, and mom was driving.

Meanwhile we wait a day for the $80 worth of tank, filter, rocks and bubbling dinosaur head to settle and the water to warm and de-chlorofy. Then the $4.00 Pop-eye Goldfish is purchased and named “Lou Lou” for a friend gone to Europe, and placed in the tank, where it happily swims, frolics, eats food and nibbles the gravel until day 10, when it floats, normal but not moving, its orange/black/white skin turning whiter by the minute. Its dead, but the Pop-Eye’s still stare, and the 9 year old wants to know if it’s her fault between the tears.

Learning time again…..

September 8th Daddy Boot Camp, Boulder CO

Boulder's Next Daddy Boot Camp is September 8th at Foothills Hospital in Boulder, CO.
Start Time: 9am

Foothills Hospital
Boulder Community Foothills Hospital
4747 Arapahoe
Boulder, Colorado 80303
(720) 854-7000 The hospital is located at the northwest corner of Arapahoe and 48th Street, near Foothills Parkway in east Boulder. Click here for a map and directions.

There is ONLY ONE SLOT LEFT for September. November 10th class has several Openings. To register (Required), contact:

Coreen Schmidt

Executive Director

St. Vrain Family Center
P.O. Box 2174
Longmont, CO 80502-2174
Phone: (303) 776-5348

www.stvrainfamilycenter.org



If you are a Veteran Dad with a baby under 1 year old, PLEASE COME ANYTIME DURING THE CLASS For Free Coffee, Pastries, and a NICE CIGAR. If you know a dad with a child under 1 year old and bring him with his child to the clasee, your class fee will be REFUNDED.

Thanks,

Barney & Andy & Bill
Boot Camp Facilitators