Howefitz Blog

Saturday, we went to the Denver area to see what this People to People thing is all about. If you’ve missed it in previous posts, Kat received a nomination to a People to People delegation to Australia. The mailings we’ve received say things like ‘cuddle with a koala!’ and ’swim a corral reef!’ so we were certainly curious. The informational meeting certainly peeked my interest. Kat will not only be given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but also will come back with 120 hours of elective social studies credits, which looks great on a college resume.

This post brought to you by Dad-Blogs' FatherHood Friday. Be sure to swing by for all the other great Dads and Moms who love to share their lives online!

I’ve spent all morning working on today’s post, well, the bits of the morning where I wasn’t taking The Teenager to school. Then there were the times I was holding the baby, which is a chore, let me tell you. Every time I hold that warm little snuggly body against me I can’t help thinking that I’d much rather be in front of my glaring blank white computer screen instead of throwing the baby in to the air and hearing his sweet, genuine giggle as I tickle under his ribs with my nose. Who wants that?

Martin Luther King, Jr. via last.fm

I recently read a wonderful post by Ron Mattocks at Clark Kent’s Lunchbox about what our hopes teach our children about their futures. Using Martin Luther King’s ‘I Have A Dream’ speech as a catalyst, Ron tells us stories of his father and the effects his father had on his life and parenting style. It’s great. I highly recommend you head over there and read it.

image from squidoo.com

OK, so maybe this post is a little late. As you continue to read, you’ll understand why…

Happy 2010!!! You geeks out there that read this blog know that this is ‘The Year We Make Contact‘!!! Start striking your timpani drums now! So, my first resolution this year is to make friends with some Russians and go to Jupiter to look for monoliths…

All geeking out aside, I have been taking a lot of time to reflect on where I am as a husband, father, employee, and of course, Daddy Blogger. Since you are reading my blog, I am going to focus first on what I will be doing here going forward in this brand-spanking new year, and why you should keep reading!

I have been a fan of Kyle Baker’s for a while now. Actually, it’s been a decade. I remember seeing a lot of Y2K-themed books in 1999, but ‘I Die at Midnight’ popped from the shelf. It was how I ‘found’ Kyle Baker. The artwork looked more like animation cels than a comic book. And the story of a man who wants to end it all after getting dumped must have struck a chord in my 21 year old heart. The subsequent return of the girlfriend with our hero attempting to vomit the pills he just overdosed on, well, pure comic genius! It is the only Y2K book that I will still pick up and read and enjoy. (You can read the entire graphic novel for free at kylebaker.com!)

I am happy to announce that Jason of The Devoted Dad is the recipient of a $20 Wal-Mart e-gift card as the winner of the Paying Forward A Random Act Of Kindness Giveaway!

Although the winner was chosen through the use of Random.org, I would like to repost his comment here:

This is a great way to keep it going! I love the pay it forward idea. I’ve waited all day to post about this because I wanted to give it some thought. The idea that I came up with was to have my 3 year old go to Walmart and look for gifts to place in the local giving tree at the hospital for a child in need of a christmas gift.

This post brought to you by Dad-Blogs' FatherHood Friday. Be sure to swing by for all the other great Dads and Moms who love to share their lives online!

I’m not going to lie. I started this blog to try to make money.

A year ago, I discovered guys like John Chow and Shoemoney. I saw sites like Problogger and thought, ‘Man, I could do that! Let me at it!’

A year ago this month I started the Howefitz blog, and I have not made one cent. In fact, I’ve lost a few. (I’m lookin at you, aweber!)

I am the father of a teenage girl. Twilight? Yeah, I’ve heard of it. Here are my feelings on the phenomenon. Come with me… if you dare!

Since the dawn of teenage entertainment, what could possibly be described as ‘gothic’ has proved to be popular. What was popular while you were growing up?

Teen Wolf (1985)

OK, so not necessarily gothic, Twilight features werewolves as well as vampires, so I had to find an example of a werewolf other than Lon Chaney, Jr.

Monster Squad (1987)

Before this becomes a list of Halloween flicks of the 80’s, let’s focus on the vampires, shall we?

Look at that face. Poor homeless thing is miserable...

By now, I’m sure you are all aware of the blogosphere’s outcry against Gwen, the homeless American Girl doll.

If not, than essentially what you need to know is that Gwen’s deadbeat dad left her and her mom to live in their car. She meets a girl named Chrissy, who enjoys keeping the bullies from picking on Gwen’s sad plight.

This post is a part of the glorious event that is FatherHood Friday. That’s where Dad and Mom bloggers come together on Friday and discuss what FatherHood is all about. Be sure to click the link on the left for more fabulous contributions. Isn’t this header thing like the top of the first page of an old comic? “Bitten by a radioactive spider, young Peter Parker….”