One of the odder aspects of occasionally writing things on the internet is that people, companies, or locations might reach out and ask you to accept a large box full of confetti, plastic discs, and watches that don’t tell time, but do summon a little ghost butler to your aid […]
Author: dadcation
Why I’m walking 84 miles this July
Right now, a bunch of us are at the Dad 2.0 Summit in Washington DC, and we’ve just announced that a dozen of us are walking Hadrian’s Wall this summer to raise money for Camp Kesem, and that there will be a new camp at the University of Maryland in […]
Mardi Gras 2016 and the Endymion Extravaganza
For my 20th trip to New Orleans and my 8th Mardi Gras, I got to do something I’ve wanted to do for over 20 years: go to one of those fancy pants black tie balls that the various krewes hold. And because I believe in coming strong, we chose the […]
What we can take away from “Making a Murderer”
I normally don’t jump on TV show bandwagons. It was years and years after the start of “Friends” or “Seinfeld” before I watched either with any loyalty. After they ended, I stopped being loyal to anything on TV other than the Crimson Tide’s football team. But then I flipped over […]
the worst Thanksgiving dish I ever had
The next suggestion from the “642 Things to Write About” book is this: “the worst Thanksgiving dish I ever had.” This may appear to be a question avoidance strategy, but the worse meal I’ve had on Thanksgiving is…nothing–or next to nothing. In high school, I was a wrestler, and Thanksgiving […]
how we did New Year’s Eve last year (and will do it again this year)
Observe: See how that works? You can lie to your children if you want, or you can do like we did and watch the countdown on Netflix and then watch some footage of fireworks in London and tell them we’re celebrating with the Mother Land. Whichever. Either way, you get […]
My Pepto and Me: a Love Story
I was introduced to Pepto as a teen who’d consumed too much candy one Halloween. My mother produced it to silence my whining about frequent trips to the potty. When I asked what it was, she said, “It’s like concrete for your bottom.” I pictured my dad with a trowel […]
A houseplant is dying. Tell it why it needs to live.
The next suggestion from the “642 things…” book (see title above): Hey. You in the green. Drink something. Stand up straight. Quit showing your roots. Have some self-respect. Listen to me for a minute. You’re privileged. You sit in a window near the back door, in a room full of […]
What can happen in a second?
A couple weeks ago, I was at a local store I like to endorse any time we need something framed called Binders. The children were with us and were picking out items to break, take, or insist that we buy for them. Among them was the 9-year-old’s choice of a […]
today I learned Care Bears have cousins
Apparently, I should have learned this in the ’80s, but I was busy watching the Dukes of Hazzard and Knight Rider back then, so I never noticed. So, how did I learn about Care Bears’ cousins? We got a box in the mail from Netflix that was addressed to me, […]