Did you miss me?  It’s been a while.  Since I auto-post some of my Thursday Thirteen’s, it’s been a while since I have actually had time to write a fresh post.  I did one last week and that one drew incredible response on Facebook, Twitter and through my blog.  The message was clear to me that it was time to get down to writing again, so here I go. 

As I had previously posted, I made a great career move just over a week ago and with that I have been making effort to rid myself of some bad habits that I have dragged with me along the way, specifically, going to bed late, sleeping in and neglecting my duties around the house.  There, I said it.  But since last week, I’ve been getting to bed at a very reasonable time (before midnight almost every night) and as a result, I have no time for dilly-dallying after I get home from the office.  Stuff has to get done around here AND I still want to check in with the UrbanMummy (who has been quite ill the past, oh, 6 weeks), to make sure she’s coping with work, kids, household and buying stuff online.  Yes, we have a nanny, but even she’s busy in the evenings taking English courses and hanging around with her friends and family.  After a long day she needs to recharge herself to prepare for the next day too.

So here is what we’ve been up to and forgive me if I have posted about this before;

Linus has been coming of age recently, spending more time focussing on his activities and I think really starting to understand that doing things half-assed is so not cool.  I can vouch for that have grown up in the same pattern he is currently living!  But in the past couple weeks, he has impressed his piano teacher (although he refuses to practice – he just gets it), he has moved up a level in swimming classes, and in karate he’s grading for his green belt – and red guey - on the weekend because he’s totally mastered his kata.  He’s excelling in his Beaver troop and his math skills are still lights out!  He’s amazing with numbers, adding, subtracting, multiplication and some division.  He even knows about negative numbers and he can do math problems like they are child’s play.  Me, on the other hand, refused to touch math problems from his grade through University.  I knew I didn’t get them, so why make the effort.  But he gets them (thank goodness).  I’m in awe and SO proud.  He has also recently shown an interest in soccer and reading.  YAY.

Stewie – poor tired Stewie – came with to Beavers the last couple weeks and although he does not have a “costume” yet (read: Beaver uniform) he seems to really enjoy the learning and craft segments of the meetings but these meetings end at 7:30pm and that is his bedtime, so by the time we’re in the car after the meeting, he is a mess and ready for meltdown.  As a result, I do not think he’s going to be able to stick with it, at least right now.  In other activities, Stewie is also progressing at swimming – briefly being at the same level as Linus – and in piano, which he practices daily, he can play by ear!  He loves to read and has been coming up with the most cleverist of comments pretty much hourly, lately, which kills us.  He of course also likes to fight with Linus and just yesterday was waving a kitchen knife near his sister’s head while he was trying to cut an apple and verbally abuse his brother with comments like, “You’re an A.S.S., Linus”, or the ever popular, “You’re a poo poo, Linus”.  Even poor Berry can now be heard yelling to either boy, “My name is not poo poo, it’s Berry”, or “I am NOT a poo poo!  you’re a poo poo”.  Oh yes.  They have corrupted Berry so much, just last night she was heard singing “Mary had a little poo…”

Berry, meanwhile, is potty trained – except night obviously, she just turned 2-years-old – and has been sleeping in her “big girl bed” which is a toddler bed for about the same time.  During her first week in that bed she fell out of bed 5 times, four times towards the door, and the last time she fell behind the bed, so between the bed and the wall.  This usually occurs between 2am and 5am and we are awaken by a “thump”, then a cry for “mummy!!!”.  Her vocabulary is lights out and she’s quite funny, the perfect mix of Stewie’s seriousness and smarts and Linus’ goofiness and incredible sense of humour.

UrbanMummy… What can I say.  She’s been sick for ages and still manages to work, organize and plan the household, coordinate meals, prepare fantastic meals and basically be mummy to three children.  Being a mother is the most difficult profession in the world… I truly believe that.

Me, well, I drank a Tim Horton’s new XL double double last week, which is the American-sized 24oz drink and I almost fell asleep halfway through it.  It’s so much coffee that I was scared picking it up… Seriously, and nothing scares me anymore.  I’m also very close to registering for the Canadian Investment Funds Course (CIFC) so I can learn things like;

• Financial objectives
• Mutual fund basics
• Mutual fund investment
• Types of mutual funds
• Economic environment
• Managing mutual funds
• Taxation
• Pensions and retirement
• Responsibilities

I think that’s the start I need for continuing education – it’s been 5 years since I completed my MBA, and I think I want to get my CMA after this course is done.  That or I’ll take some smaller courses like on Segregated funds, Mutual funds, or a taxation-specific course to add to my knowledge.

Other than that, I appreciate the support and the comments and I’m sorry that I have not had a chance to return the favour and read your blogs too… I promise, once I get my schedule set I will pop by more often.  I have not even had the time to Tweet or do justice to Cityville, or LinkedIn.  If you are a blogger and are not on my blogroll, please drop me a note or a comment because right now that is what I use as my guide when I have time to read.

I also noticed in the writing of this post that I apparently only have the ability to work for organizations which begin with the exact same letter!  I also cannot type the word “the”, I type “teh”, nor “myself”, I can only do “myslef”.  Can I not program WordPress or any of the Microsoft Office programs to automatically correct those?  They do not!

That’s what I’ve got right now.  This post only sat for 4 days in my draft folder.  I’m already working on the next part.

Some of the bands that made that list included; Rush, The Guess Who, Platinum Blonde, The Tragically Hip, etc.

But what about solo artists? 

So please find this week’s Thursday 13 – with some help from Social media guru and all around music genius, Elliott hurst – the 13 must know, Iconic, Canadian individual or solo artists.

1. Neil Young
2. Joni Mitchell
3. Leonard Cohen
4. Oscar Peterson
5. Bryan Adams
6. Gordon Lightfoot
7. Celine Dion
8. K.D. lang
9. Alanis Morrissette
10. Shania Twain
11. Robbie Robertson (of The Band)
12. Stompin’ Tom Connors
13. Avril Lavigne

Honourable Mentions:

Bruce Cockburn
Anne Murray
Rita MacNeil
Sarah McLachlan
Andrew Jacob Scott
Paul Anka
Lee Aaron
Gowan

Justin Bieber
Michael Buble
Nelly Furtado
Robert Goulet
Corey Hart
The late, great Jeff Healey
Colin James
Sass Jordan
Diana Krall
Chantal Kreviazuk
Multiple Grammy award winner Walter Ostanek
Amanda Marshall
Raffi

Whew.

Did I miss anyone?

Related articles

• Thursday Thirteen – Thirteen Iconic Canadian Bands according to Supernova CEO Elliott Hurst and me! (urbandaddy.wordpress.com)

So I made him some coffee – Starbucks VIA Columbia – and gave him cookies but I still don’t think that compensates for the shlepping that beast down to the basement with me, so I want to give his business some props.

Eric owns a company called Campus Discs.  If you check out his Facebook page, which I linked to above, you’ll see that Eric, or one of his fine, trusted employees travels the globe (or Southern Ontario) to sell used CD’s, DVD’s, Blue Rays and new vinyl records to students at various establishments of higher (left-leaning) learning.

In case you were wondering what the kids these days are buying, box sets are very popular; The Sopranos, Soap, 2 and a 1/2 men, anything WWE, as are classic movies and a bit of everything on the music side.

I asked Eric if he takes requests on his Facebook page and he said he used to but a lot of people want the most popular stuff and quite frankly everybody and their uncle sells that stuff, so he continues to bring the goods and kids spend all their hard-earned OSAP and meal plan monies on his musical treats.

So if you happen to see this and are at one of these locations, go buy something… Wait… Lots of stuff to compensate Eric for having to shlep my treadmill with me for just cookies. 

I will say that the History of the Intercontinental Championship is an amazing 3 DVD box set that I got for Eric and it’s AWESOME!

You can also follow him on twitter @campusdiscs.

Thanks Eric!  I went for a 30 minute walk tonight!  Couldn’t have done that without you. Oh, and Sears Canada, if I had ordered a fridge, or a bed, would you have left it in the middle of my front hall too?  I get it that the 5pm-9pm delivery timeslot became almost 10pm and the guys were exhausted and one guy holding his shoulder, but they could have hung out for an extra 5-10 minutes while I unpackaged it – helped me get it downstairs and took all the packaging.  So not cool!

Thursday I began a new chapter in my career as I joined a new company. Wednesday was my last day at my previous employer.  I’m happy, sad, nervous and excited… All the good stuff.

My son, Linus, told me on the way to Beavers that if I changed jobs one more time, then I get to be a Doctor in my following career move. Cool. Doctor of Taxation maybe, but that’s as close as I’ll get!

On Thursday, I went early to check out the neighbourhood and dropped into the Java Joe’s location in Mississauga – I’m going to miss the Richmond Hill location – and I started chatting with the owner who is really nice too.  This location also opens at 7am, which works great for me and since there is no Tim Horton’s in sight this works great.  So I ordered a large Highlander Cream and when I turned to put in cream and sugar I noticed they had posted my 2011 Urban Daddy Coffee rankings; http://urbandaddy.wordpress.com/2011/09/26/urban-daddys-3rd-annual-coffee-shop-rankings-2011/ right there the cream, sugar, lids and stir sticks are.

So I blurted out laughing which brought over the owner and I pointed to the lists (it was there on each side) and said; “That’s my ranking. I wrote this article”.

He seemed stunned, pointed to me and said, “you?”.

“Yes” I replied. “I wrote that” at which point I opened my iPad, flipped to my blog and showed him the post.

He thanked me, gave me his card, and wished me best of luck on my new position.

Anyways, here is the Thursday Thirteen. Again in case you, like I did, forgot. The 13 things allegedly, my staff will miss about me.

13. Brrraaaiiinnnnnnnsssssssssss - That is my Plants vs. Zombies chant I would regularly throw into conversations with the group. 

12. Ice Cream bets - I have been known to bet my staff that they cannot finish food, or drinks… OR ice cream and lost. I’ve won too, but it’s all for fun, plus everyone always has room for ice cream!

11. “Don’t worry about It” and “Sure, no problem” - These must represent my laid back nature and my desire to remove the stress from some people and take the work into our area and have it done there. When I utter those catch phrases, I not only take care of the task but I educate so it hopefully doesn’t happen again.

10. Buzzing music from my iPod - What can I say… I love my music loud and hard. Did I mention I love it loud???

9. My silly and funny comments - I have regularly thrown in comments like “sit on it”, or “take off, eh?” to keep my group on their toes and to educate them on stuff they should know. For example on my last day food was brought in to feed everyone and there were some people unhappy I was leaving, let alone for a higher position,when I blurted out that the food looked amazing and for dessert there would be “sour grapes”.  A few got it.  It went over the head of many others.

8. Political, sports and general news – I spent a lot of time on the Internet reading tax related items and general news to keep up to date on what’s going on in the finance world and what others are saying about it.  Inevitably, I would come across something interesting like news about flooding in the Philippines, or the trading of players, or something stupid the Liberals would have done and I would blurt it out plus political commentary to keep everyone informed.  Your welcome. 

7. Cubicle to cubicle visits and chats – It’s not like I was just walking around wasting time, but I firmly believe that every now and then staff need to be engaged and feel connected to management so I would chat with them, see what they’re working on, find out what issues they are having and stay connected. 

6. Lively greetings – Every morning I would walk in and say good morning to everyone who I would pass and who would look at me.  Nothing wrong with that, right?  I would also greet my taxation staff and do a pulse check person by person.  My experience shows me this is much better than walking by them with my head down…

5. Acronyms, like “WLS” and “WWGD” – I’m a big fan of keeping things loose.  People spend more time at the office than they do at home, so I want to make sure they enjoy themselves while getting the job done.  These acronyms related to people. 

4. Star Wars toys – I had a big collection of Star Wars toys on my cubicle which I started to take home when I knew I was leaving and now they’re all here.  I loved having them out, but don’t see that opportunity in my new role for toys…

3. Social media updates of my family – When you blog and tweet and talk about your family, people either ask me for updates, or they read it here and tell me what they liked about it.  Now they are going to have to read it.  Hopefully this will mean more hits. 

2. Coffee and bagels - Have I mentioned before that I appreciate all the hard work of my staff and the rest of the staff I worked with?  Well I do and people like to eat so I would periodically bring in food… many types of food in order to keep spirits high and tummy’s full.  Ice cream Thursday’s were a smash!  A block of ice cream was $1.47.  A box of waffles was $0.99 so for less than $5.00 I could feed a lot of folks a lot of ice cream.  I even saw someone… Eat a super-sized ice cream sandwich with extra ice cream on top.  Crazy. 

1. Noisy food, like carrots, apples, but mostly when chomping on my nails – I’m always eating.  Fruits, veggies, mainly things that crunch, but when I’m stressed, it’s my nails.  Needless to say, I went through a lot of nails.

Personally I think they’re going to miss this;

Very tired.

Too tired to blog, too tired to play CityVille and I’m falling asleep at 9pm usually when I sit down to turn on my computer.  I’m not used to being this tired, then again, I am 40 now, maybe my body is finally acting it’s age and going to be at 1 or 2am and getting up at 6am is wearing me out.  It has been a regular pattern for me for the past 7 years.

Nonetheless, I’ve got a lot of stuff sitting in my draft folder which I’m plopping into this one post and making it a shorter, more random one.  Enjoy.

My kids recognize ”We Are the Champions” by Queen and Stewie turned up the music in our kitchen when it was on.  At that time, I was making an omelet with green onions, mushrooms, marble cheese and a touch of white wine when I felt the need to “educate” my kids, so I stopped cooking, and proceeded to hold the mushrooms up over my head and sang “We are the Champignons”.  Confused but intrigued, Linus came over to learn that Champignon, in French, means mushroom.

The next song on the radio happened to be “Hey Jude” by the Beatles.  My wife is a HUGE Beatles fan so of course I had to be a shit and I tried to convince her that the Beatles were anti-Semitic because “Jude” is “Jew” in German and when they sing, “Hey Jude… Don’t let me down” it’s really the band calling out our religion.  Smart girl, however, she’s known me for almost 12 years and completely dismissed my rantings as those of an insane father who just fed 3 incredibly overtired and cranky children while she played Cityville.

As the day progressed, the boys and I did a deep cleaning of the basement and for being so well-behaved, I thought it was the perfect time to teach the boys how to play chess.  So out came the glass chessboard with glass pieces that I was given and we all sat down so I could explain the rules.

They picked up the game very quickly and both really enjoyed it.  To show how much they play together and how well they play together, it took 7 turned each before a piece left the board.  They were very meticulous and strategize the game quite well.  Since that day they’ve played numerous times. 

Not only have the kids brains turned on to chess, but for some strange reason they have decided they want to play soccer in the basement, so for an hour a day, we’ve been playing soccer.  They play together, they play with Berry, we all played as a family, we played with our nanny and some nannies from the neighbourhood… It’s a soccer-fest each and every day and while I’m way too tired to exercise, I’m getting such a workout at home that I have muscles in my legs and knees aching which I didn’t know I had and I’ve played ball-hockey for 20 years!

Also changing since January 1st is Berry, who turned 2-years-old at the end of November has suddenly become a big girl and is well on her way to being potty trained.  This past weekend, for example, we’ve had no accidents and she’s even gone to nap in the afternoon and awaken dry. 

It’s time to call Comfy Cotton diaper service and have them hold off on the cloth diapers, I think.  She’s been able to hold it when she has to and she can identify when she has to pee and notify us in enough time so that her pants are not wet by the time she finishes her notification.

Reminds me of Linus.  He was out of diapers at 2 years and 3 months old because he really wanted red little boy boxer shorts and I think in that full year before we completely took him out of night diapers (even though he was dry through out the night for over 6 of those months – 1st kid, eh?) he had 4 accidents total.

Berry, loves her Hello Kitty panties that we buy from H&M.  I think it’s what got her out of diapers.  Finding their currency is the key!

While I’m typing this, Berry is singing the ABC’s to me in Tagalog.  At least that’s what my wife says.  It’s so cute even if I have no idea what she’s saying.

So now Berry can count to 10 in English, Tagalog and Spanish.  She is working on Hebrew and French.  She can do ABC’s in Tagalog and English.

Awesome.

http://www.ninjamatics.com/canadian-weblog-awards

Having a blog that kind of covers… Stuff, doesn’t normally fare well on year-end awards because I’m more than a parenting blog, I’m a little bit Daddy, I’m a little bit political, I cover sports, and coffee, current events… A bit of everything. 

But blogging as long as I have, there is one category that is totally me, and that one applies to any bloggers who have been kicking around for a long time, which, well I have.

So back to Ninjamatics.  Here was what I saw when I went by;

“The Ninjamatics’ 2011 Canadian Weblog Awards’ forty-six jurors have completed their first of two rounds of judging!

Over the last two weeks, they poured over the 461 nominated weblogs, measuring the nominees against our ten criteria. They have selected the top five weblogs in each category that will move forward into the final round of the Ninjamatics’ 2011 Canadian Weblog Awards. The winners will be picked from this shortlist over the next two weeks.

Without further ado, we are proud to announce the Ninjamatics’ 2011 Canadian Weblog Awards Nominees Shortlist!

Lifetime Achievement Award (for weblogs created before January 1, 2005)
Prix d’excellence pour l’ensemble de son œuvre (blogues créés avant le 1er janvier 2005)

Cheaty Monkey
Coin-Operated Boy
HelloMelissa.net
Urban Daddy
Weighty Matters”

Well.

Look at that.  I’ve been shortlisted.  Sweet.  The other 4 blogs are incredible, no doubt about that.

I’ll be honest, I was a little (okay, a lot) nervous about making the final 5 since last year there were 6 blogs that fit this category and I didn’t make the shortlist – I was the odd one out – which is okay since I’m a little odd. 

This year it’s a different story and I’ve made the cut.  Maybe I should see if there were only 5 blogs in the category this year (he he) before I go any further, but being nominated was a huge achievement and making it through to the bonus round is also very cool.

So please, continue to support your Canadian bloggers!

The snow reminded me that a lot of drivers on the road suck at driving their vehicles in any weather conditions which are not perfect. I’m not worried about my driving, I drive defensively, check my mirrors regularly, know how to use my car and respect that driving dangerously can cause death to myself, my passengers and others on the road… What I am scared to death about, is the other drivers on the road.

So to help you better navigate the winter roads, here are the 13 ways you can tell that you are behind a shitty driver.

13) The other car is driving without headlights on and it’s dark, foggy, winter (and the car is a white one) or just hard to see. How can these people not know? Don’t they pay attention and notice when there is no headlight reflection on the road or the car in front of them? When they cannot see the path in front of them clearly… Really?

12) When they speed up to cut someone off as opposed to just taking their foot off the pedal and sliding in behind you. But no… They speed up, cut you off, and when they have to break hard, they force you to break hard too (or plow into the back of them). You honk, they flip you the bird. Very uncool.

11) When you see someone pull away from a stop street / traffic light and they’ve just screeched their tires / wasted $4.00 in gas doing so. I’ve always felt that people who don’t respect their cars and treat them nicely are bad drivers and won’t respect other vehicles or the rules of the road.

10) Drivers blaring music – and it’s the wrong place for them to be doing it. On a residential street, or somewhere where the base is so loud that your windows are moving and you can no longer focus on the road is about the volume they are not paying attention to the road either and are trying to be oh so cool.

9) They have those stupid self-tinted windows. It’s so NOT cool when the plastic tinting starts to bubble and when I’m behind them and cannot see through to the front of the car to see the traffic in front of them. Not only does it look cheap, it’s dangerous. No wonder the cops pull these cars over. Go be badass somewhere else.

8) They have a cover on their license plates… Why? Are they hiding something? Are they trying to use a toll road and not have to pay? Do they think the cheap crooked plastic shield will stop their plate from being caught on photo radar?

7) You see them driving for long periods of time on a spare tire. Not only is the spare meant for a very short trip – to get a regular tire – but with drivers who treat them as regular tires do by using them is putting all other cars at risk when that tire pops and the car spins out.

6) They have a ton of toys in the car – stuff hanging from the rearview mirror, toys lined up across the back wihndow, or on the front dash.  A clear sign that the car and driver and more corncerned with how their car looks than whether or not they are able to obey the rules of the road.

5) If you are at an intersection ,behind a car making a left turn, the light turns yellow, then about to turn red and that car starts into their turn but takes it really slow and cautious turn instead of clearing the intersection and allowing you to get through too.  They’re clueless.  Shitty drivers.

4) Hatch backs – If the car in front of you is a hatch back with a lawn motor engine but is souped up with a spoiler, twin exhausts, racing stripes, etc, then be sure and understand they are all flash and no substance.  It’s still a hatchback, no matter how shiny the tire rims are

3) Huffed up windows – If you notice that the car in front of you has windows all covered in condensation and the fog that comes from the car getting warm and the outside being cold, then you should know you’re behind a shitty driver.  All they have to do is turn the fan on low to defrost and viola, they can see. 

2) You think it’s okay to drive with snow on your car – then not only are you a crappy driver but you also hold yourself in higher esteem than others do.  You think it’s okay to get on the highway with your car covered in snow knowing once you pick up speed that it will clear off your car, except it also disrupts the vision of all the cars behind you.  Take 2 minutes before you jump into that car, buttercup.  The cold is not going to freeze you..

1) You drive a BMW – I’m pretty sure I’ve beaten this one to death but BMW drivers are the Mercedes wannabes but who cannot afford a Benz, so they get a Mercedes and develop an attitude.  Driving fast, cutting people off, following too close, driving on the shoulder, driving in 2 lanes.  All poor driving techniques can be found in Mercedes driers.  Just be careful!

There sure is!  If you hurt someone you had better be expected to “answer the bell” and fight with them.  If you are challenged to fight in this scenario, the code states you must oblige.  If someone on the opposition runs over your goalie, or even sprays them with ice while stopping, you have to address that in whatever means possible… That is what the code says.

Personally, I detest the code,  I think the referees and the league need to address these situations and leave the players to play the game, and not put them in a position where that have to police it too.

But how does the code transcend to our everyday lives?  Or does it?

Last night at ball hockey, the team I play for was losing 7-0 at the end of the first period, with zero shots on goal, we were getting destroyed.  Part way through the second period, the other team started playing in a manner that I felt went against the “code” in hockey.  It started when they had two players standing on our blue-line or goal-sucking as it is referred to, and a little later they kept on us (which is fine) however, they took some slapshots at our players and goalie from quite close to the net and even though the game had clearly been theirs since about the 2 minute mark of the 1st period they ran into our goalie a couple times and played us like the score was 0-0.

For those of you who have played ball hockey, or any competitive sport for that matter, you would know that it’s not cool to run up the score on your opposition.  I think it’s in poor taste. 

When I looked around the bench of my team I noticed that no one seemed concerned that this team was running up the score and taunting us after each easily scored goal.  In the 20 plus years I have played in ball hockey leagues, the number one cause for altercations is poor sportsmanship and showing up your oppponent.

But since I play on this team for fun (trust me, getting hammered night in and night out is not fun), I left it until I realized the importance of taking action.  You see we are not a team.  We are a bunch of individuals who play on the same team.  When a few bad plays occur, the rest of the guys get down and we fall apart.  When something good happens, a good save, or shot block, or playing tough legally, then it rises the spirits of the boys and we play better.

So I went out with about three minutes left in the game and the first guy who came into the zone, dekeing through players like he was Wayne Gretzky, also the number on his back (99), I reached for the ball with my stick, and leaned into him throwing him to the ground with my other arm.  Clearly playing the ball, any incidental contact is allowed in the rules.  In ball-hockey we call that playing tough.  I this case, I called it sending a message.

I went over to help him up and instead gave him an earful about respect, good sportsmanship and being kind.  “We’re padding our stats” was his response.  Okay.  Next play, different guy went flying until I had knocked over 4 guys in the next minute and a half, each time while playing the ball and each time I berated the guy for his teams lack of sportsmanship.  I was following the code.  They eased up the last minute of the game and passed the ball around instead of trying to score.

After the game had ended, I lined up, shook hands with the opposition and made my way into the dressing room, only to see that my mini-rampage at the end of the game might just have had its desired effect.  The team was quite fired up and were talking about what I had done.  I explained to the guys about the code and that this team that showed us up tonight had been in the league for quite a few years and as such, we 100% poor sports.  They knew better.  

I went on to explain to the guys that as a team we have to stand up for each other.  We have to not let other teams embarrass us like that and when they do, we need to respond as a team would – whether that means we step up the play and be more physical, or we play better, or at 9-1, when they come into the zone and try to deke through us, we just drop them… They’ll get the message.

I’m a team guy.  In sports and at work.  It’s all about the team.  There are not individual winners in sports and work, there are only team wins and I recall after I left the government, my first switch, I spent the better part of a year trying to get that team mentality into the unit I managed.  I was merely a piece of the puzzle and the more my staff realized we are only as good as our weakest member, I saw the team supporting each other and working better and better until they became this smooth gelled unit with unlimited potential.

I want this ball-hockey team that I have joined to work better together.  To communicate and to succeed.  It’s been 2 tough seasons for them and they have the players but they lack the cohesiveness and the strategy.  I can bring both of them.  I coached hockey for 8 years and I can set up an air tight strategy for the worst of the worst teams.  For this team it shouldn’t be so tough.  

By seeing me willing to stand up for our team and blocking shots, knocking guys over, making key defensive plays and showing focus each shift I’m hoping other guys will want to do that too.  When you’re part of a losing team, you sometimes lost sight of how to win.  Winning is fun.  Losing sucks.  But I’ll happily take a loss if we try… If the effort is there.  As I’ve said before, I hate to lose more that I like to win.  

So is there a code in life?  I think so.  I think if you are part of a team - work, friends, family, sports – you sometimes need to prove yourself to your teammates in order to keep them on track.  You light a fire and get everyone united towards the same goal.  Whether you bail them out by completing a project for them, or standing up for a teammate in a non-violent way, you’re doing something that others either didn’t know how to do, were afraid to do, or were unable to do.  

I’ve always hated in sports that players used the code for justification for violence, but having just done the same thing - within the rules of sports – I now get it.

When have you stood up for others for the team?

Kids’ Cereals Are Loaded With Sugar.

Are you okay?

Would you ever think about giving your child Twinkies or chocolate chip cookies for breakfast? According to a study done by an organization called the Environmental Working Group, many kids cereals are just as sugary as those desserts.

As parents, we’ve all walked down the cereal aisle with our kids and watched as their eyes bug out at the site of those colourful cereal boxes.  They want the cereals that are the most colourful or have the coolest shapes, and knowing that parents won’t buy it, manufacturers started placing words on the boxes such as; ”healthy” ,”whole grain” or “great source of Vitamin D”?  That means they’re at least healthier a bit, right?

Not exactly.

The worst culprits hae the most sugar in them.  Cheerios, for example have 1 gram of sugar per serving, whereas the multi-grain Cheerios – healthier you would think by the name, has 8g of sugar per serving.  One serving of cereals like Kellogg’s Honey Smacks (used to be Sugar Smacks but sugar is not healthy whereas honey could be healthy or organic), Post Golden Crisp, and General Mills Wheaties Fuel contains more sugar than the 18 grams packed into a Twinkie. A shocking 44 children’s cereals like Apple Jacks and Cap’n Crunch contain more than the 12 grams of sugar in two President Choice Decadent Chocolate Chip Cookies.

In an effort to fight the increasing rates of childhood obesity in the US, a panel of scientists and experts met in Congress and created nutritional guidelines for foods marketed to children. Believe it or not, but only one in four cereals met these proposed acceptable nutritional guidelines, meaning that three in four kids’ cereals should not even be marketed to children.

Of course, these cereal manufacturers have been lobbying against these guidelines, which are to take effect in 2016.

Due to high obesity rates in the US, Congress is looking at everything to do with kids diets to assist parents in keeping children healthy.  It started with removing soda machines from schools, adding back gym and now Congress is aiming at the food parents pick for their kids in the morning.  Since studies have shown that healthier children do better in school, it’s in the US government’s best interest to keep the population healthy.

Obviously, cereal is not the only answer.  Growing up we had one or 2 unhealthy cereals, but they always got mixed with a healthy one and eaten that way.  Nowadays, my kids gasp at the chocolate Cheerios but they know we’re not buying them.  Instead they find the healthier cereals and read off the amounts of sugar, sodium and calories. 

They know the Multi-Grain Cheerios at 6g of sugar per serving is special so they look to see which cereals have lower sugar amounts and they bring them to . 

Wouldn’t it just be easier if parents looked at their own eating habits: In our house, we set the rules of the household and we follow them too.  As role models we have to walk the walk AND talk the talk.  Leading by example builds credibility!  Our kids start the day with organic oatmeal or regulat and multi-grain Cheerious mixed with regular Cheerious, or plain yogurt mixed with frozen berries and seeds.  I could never imagine my kids wating so much sugar first thing in the morning.  How would they focus in school??

And boy have the times changed from when I was a kid!

Click below to see the Environmental Working Group’s full report and list of sugary cereals.

http://breakingnews.ewg.org/report/sugar_in_childrens_cereals/

But I’m not complaining.  I love being a dad and wouldn’t change it for anything in the world.  What I would change is coming up in my very brief 2012 New Year’s resolutions for myself and wishes for the world. 

Before that, here are some stats for 2011 for this urban daddy.

Number of 2011 blog posts: 176.

Approximate number of Tweets: 2700

Approximate number of new visitors to this blog: 18,000

Most read blog posts:  Posts on the Canadian live-in caregiver program, the Ontario election and just about anything political which resulted in me being pro-conservative and my series on IVF.

Most commented: My post on changes to the live-in caregiver program.  I have a new post coming out soon on this exact topic.

Where did you all come from?  The majority of my views came from www.facebook.com, www.twitter.com and www.,atomicreach.com.  Of course subscriptions and just coming to my URL were far and away the most common.

Geographically, you’ve come from everywhere in the world.  That’s cool.  Also cool is the fact that some of you take the time to “like” me on Facebook and when I periodically drop by to see if you’re a blogger too, I see things that humble me (and make me think you’ve made a mistake) when you’re list of likes include; Lady Gaga, Green Day, MTV, Politics, and me.    

It’s all quite crazy, and a lot of fun.

So my 2012 New Years resolutions:

• More quality time with my wife – including more frequent date nights!
• Drink more water
• Exercise regularly and not just 2-3 times per week.
• Regular push-ups and sit-ups.
• Update my work wardrobe… Quickly.  I have longer than normal arms and pretty big shoulders from working out periodically so as a result I have a hard time getting dress shirts that fit.  As a result, I have them custom made through www.maxwell.com and in that area, I’m doing great but I’ve got nothing else… Socks, pants, jackets… Old and boring.
• More pictures on my blog, including a picture of me to replace Linus’ yucky kitty picture.
• Squeeze in some courses into my already packed schedule.  Either complete me CMA or CSC… Not sure which or where or how, but soon.
• Find greater consistency. 
• Get the job done – even the yucky tasks and fast.
• Change for the sake of change.
• Get a real URL

Now for some general wishes for my city and my sports teams:

• Toronto Maple Leafs @Leafsbb20 Either make a trade for a bona fide 1st line centre to boost scoring or trade your most expensive players and make a run for a top 5 pick and try again next year with Coach Wilson. 
• Playoffs for the Leafs, Raptors, Jays and Argos.  We know the Toronto Rock compete night in, night out, but these other franchises are stuck in a rut it would appear to me.
• Peace in the Middle East.  No more settlements.  No more rockets.  It’s time for all sides to grow up.
• Syria and Russia… You;’re next.  Corruptions must go.
• Rob Ford, you know I support you, but stop making it easy for the left to attack you.  You need to get control of your public image and do it fast.  That means lose some weight, stop drinking so much, and be clear and upfront with your intentions.  If you failed or made a misstep, it’s okay.  The right support you.  We just find it hard to defend you on that other stuff you’re not managing well enough.
• Check out my stuff at www.pinkandbluebaby.com
• I hope my wife completes her holistic nutritionist courses and gets her business up and running.  She’s a super smart cookie (you didn’t think the kids got that from me, right?) and has great ideas.

What are your resolutions and wishes for your family / community?

And for the new readers, I periodically like to (re)introduce myself to you all.

My name is Warren and I’ve been blogging here since 2004, or just over 775 blog posts.  I post about my family, politics, coffee and things that annoy or piss me off.    I’ve been married just over 10 years and my wife and I have 3 children; Linus is 7, Stewie is 5 and Berry is 2.  I refer to my oldest as Linus because he reminds me of the character from Peanuts who carries his blanket around everywhere he goes for security.  Stewie is named after the character from Family guy because we are convinced this child is going to kill us with that sweet yet intense personality.  Berry, well, she’s like a strawberry.  Cute and sweet.

My wife and I have masters degrees, so we expect a lot from our kids, especially them to behave and respect others.  In a recent post I was having a conversation with Linus about respect and he told me it was the second most important thing in the world, next to not dying when you are born.  See.  Our kids get it too…

Linus is a whiz with numbers.  Scary good with them.  He also likes to trace out items with his fingers and touch items to get a feel for them.  He’s a hands on kid who is as smart as he wants to be and as goofy as he possibly can be.  He gets the goofiness from, ahem, me.

Stewie seems to be amazing at whatever he does.  Besides being the same height his brother was at the beginning of this school year, Stewie is catching Linus at karate, swimming, piano, reading and pretty much whatever else he can get his hands on.  This kid waits for no one and the more goofy Linus is, the more amazing Stewie becomes and that’s an understatement.  Stewie, if you recall from previous posts, was ready to quit Senior kindergarten because it was “boring”.

Berry… Ahh, sweet Berry.  She looks like Linus but has a little more of Stewie in her.  At just 2-years-old her vocabulary and comprehension are through the roof.  She can count to 10 in Tagalog, Spanish, English and pretty soon Hebrew and French.  She forgets nothing and talks like she is 4.

I work in the taxation industry, so you may see some tax posts go by, although I try to keep them together on www.intaxicating.wordpress.com.  That’s my tax resource blog.

To sum me up, I hate to lose more than I like to win.  I believe in the good in everyone and I hate conflict.  I will go out of my way to make others feel comfortable to compensate for the many years I was uncomfortable, shy and reserved.  I’m not that anymore… Not at all.  When I tell me staff I used to be painfully shy they laugh at me…

I have 2 sides to me.  The public, professional side and the angry sports side.  Polar opposites.

So welcome 2012.  Welcome to all my readers, I hope you have a wonderful 2012 too, and if there is anything I can do for you, feel free to comment on a post, or drop me a note at realurbandaddy@gmail.com  

You can subscribe to my posts, you van like me on Facebook and support me on Circle of Moms, or Top Blogs or anywhere else my blog pops up.  It’s those clicks that tell others that you appreciate my writing and just reading my stuff and sending notes on Facebook or in person tell me you read my stuff and I truly appreciate that.

All the best in 2012.

The urban daddy!