Of course, today’s kids are spoiled. They can have cartoons 24-7, on demand, no questions asked. Here at Howefitz Blog, I’d like to start  a tradition of making Saturday morning an event again. Cartoons belong on Saturday morning!

This week, after that stirring childhood reminiscence, let me warn you that the following comic book I am going to tell you about is NOT for the kiddos. My readers are generally parents and grandparents, and every time I blog about a comic, I get a ‘That will be great for my kid/grandkid!’ comment. DO NOT find this comic for your kid!

Thanks to Ron Mattocks for pointing me to ‘Life With Tony‘, and his Kick-Ass comic giveaway!

Tony is giving away a copy of Kick-Ass #1, signed by creators Mark Millar and John Romita Jr. Even though I’ve been out of comic book circles for a while, I know that these two are legends and would love to have their autograph!

The comic is super-violent, with an uber-violent movie releasing in April. (Again, not for kids…)

As you can see, the story is of a comic book fan that decides to become his own kind of superhero. The only thing is, he doesn’t have super powers.

So, Tony’s giveaway works like this: answer the question of what super power would you have and why? Post your answer to your blog, MySpace, Facebook, whatever…

It didn’t take a whole lot of thought for me. Now that I’m a family man, I can’t be selfish and just give myself super powers. So, in the spirit of the Incredibles, here’s my super-family line-up:

Ultra-Papa: This would be me. Who doesn’t want the power of flight? So that would come first, but not without some effort. The extraordinary muscles that would be required to sustain flight and navigate the skies would lead to super-strength. Being the adult male of the team would make me think that I am the leader, but actually that would be…

Ultra-Mama: Also having the ability to fly and super-strength, Ultra-Mama is the real brains behind the operation, but let’s Ultra-Papa think he is in control… at least some of the time.

Steam-Hatter: Being able to multi-task in a HUGE way is Steam-Hatter’s forte. She is the informational hub for the team, able to navigate informational super-networks with a thought, and relay the pertinent info to the rest of the team. Still able to kick ass on missions, Steam-Hatter would prefer to stay behind the scenes and keep the team rolling.

Flash-Calli: This is actually what she wants us to call her, no DC Comics copyright-infringement is intended! Flash-Calli has so much kinetic energy in her molecular structure, that she is constantly on the move, even while asleep. She’s agile and quick, and is often utilized as the distraction while Ultra-Papa and Ultra-Mama do their thing.

Baby T: Although unable to speak, Baby T is able to control others with a single look. Objects from around the room suddenly appear in his hands, leading many to believe he possesses telekinetic as well as telepathic powers.

And that’s the Howefitz Ultra Team!

Do you or your family wish they had super powers? Be sure to let Tony know all about it!

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**Just a reminder, my donate button on the right side of the blog is going to Kat and her People to People delegation to Australia. Give what you can when you can to help her on this life-changing journey!**

I remember my first backpacking trip in the Rocky Mountains. I can’t tell you exactly how old I was, but I was a young teen. What I do remember is that it was a new moon when we set up camp near the summit. I had never seen so many stars! I remember looking up and feeling like the Universe was at my fingertips. It also made me feel so very tiny. Who was I compared to THIS? What difference could I possibly make? I quickly realized that yes, the Universe is very large. But so was this mountain, and I had just conquered it, right? I was a part of this wondrous creation, and whatever The Plan was for my being here, I had faith that I would fulfill that destiny.

That experience changed me forever. It not only imbued me with an undying devotion to the mountains. (A decade later I would pack up my family and move them there.) But also a renewed enthusiasm for the world and my place in it.

It wasn’t just the stars. I had taken that trip with a church group. It was the varied mix of people, the support that we gave one another, emotionally and physically, that would make me realize the difference that I could make in life.

I shared that story because I am excited and thrilled to announce that Kat, the Teenager, will be embarking on an adventure that will surely dwarf the one I had as a teen. She has been accepted in to People to People, and will be going to Australia in June!!!

We’re straining our brains to come up with ideas for fundraising, but my first step is to turn over my PayPal account to her. I’ve had a donation badge on the side of this blog for a while now, but any donations I get from now until June will go to her life-changing experience. She and I were brain-storming last night about what to send as a ‘thank-you’. We haven’t made any final decisions, but she mentioned something about making artwork or baking cookies…

I hope you’ll consider donating to this tremendous opportunity for her. If not, we’ll still be friends. I know how it is out there these days…

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!

All contents copyright 2008-2009 Justin Howe.

I am not beyond a redesign, however. Look for changes in the not-too-distant future…

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The Sunday Sermons here at Howefitz Blog are generally intended to explore the philosophies and religions of the world, and to hear your take. Today I’m bending the rules a little, but still discussing a way of thinking that our entire world is possibly embroiled in: that of complaining.

On Thursday, I told you about my attempt at going 21 days without complaining or making excuses. If you missed it, it’s at 21 Days. No Complaints. No Excuses.

I have gotten a lot of positive feedback through the comments and on twitter.

This led me to create a facebook fan page for this very idea. I would invite anyone that has joined me on this journey to fan the experiment and share your experiences.

As for my results? Let’s just say that Thursday was 4 days ago, and I am on day 2 of actually not complaining. That may be because it’s my second day off of work.

Who doesn’t complain about their job, right? That’s where I’ve found that it’s the easiest to break down. I don’t care how much you love your job, you’ll find things that you don’t like. I think this stems from the fact that in most jobs, it’s a team effort, with people making up that team of various skills/competencies. Someone’s bound to do something wrong, or as you would perceive as wrong. Maybe they’re lazy. Maybe they just don’t know.

If you’re not where you want to be in life, stop and ask yourself what the root cause is. Don’t be so quick to blame anything outside yourself. Every where you look, everything is changing. It’s how you deal with that change that matters.

In case you haven’t noticed, this message is just as much to myself as it is to anyone else. I feel like getting this off of my chest, letting the world know how I think, is a form of cathartic release. I can now begin to change myself.

The journey is far from over…

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image found at gracewalk.wordpress.com

A good blog is like a good book. Sometimes you want to go back and revisit posts that meant something to you. One such post by Tim Ferriss has been rattling around in my head A LOT lately. This post was called Real Mind Control: The 21 Day No-Complaint Experiment. In the post, Tim told us of Will Bowen, a Kansas City minister who decided to try an experiment. He would wear a purple bracelet to remind him not to complain for 21 days. If he did complain, he would switch his bracelet to the other wrist and start over at day 1. This is because scientists say that it takes 21 days to form a habit. If you don’t complain for 21 days straight, you’ve just formed a habit of not complaining!

There is now a great website started by Will Bowen called acomplaintfreeworld.org. There, you can order the purple bracelet, Will Bowen’s book and DVD, and even download a widget for your computer that will count the days for you. If you complain, you have to click ‘Start Over’.

Why would you want to do this?

I don’t know why you would want to do this, but I’ll tell you why I am going to do this, and why it took me this long to realize I should.

Reason #1

I’ve related in earlier posts how I may not be as happy with some aspects of my life as I could be. Sure, I have a wonderful family and my health, but I want more for my family and for myself. I find it too easy, however, to complain, or better yet, make excuses for why things don’t go as planned. That is why the title of this post includes ‘No Excuses’. More on that in a bit…

Reason #2

Complaining gets everyone down. Working in the retail industry, I can’t tell you how many times someone has commented on how they couldn’t do my job if they had to deal with the irate customers. I used to think the same way. What I do is think about what I would like to hear if I was upset. How does that fit in to what I can actually do?

So the no complaining piece is this: of course you identify the problems, but instead of seeing them as problems, make them in to opportunities to grow and improve the situation. Instead of just writing a situation off as something to complain about, isn’t there something you can do to improve or even remedy the situation? And if not, why sweat it? It’s out of your hands! Yelling at the Republican or Democrat on the television screen is just raising your blood pressure. The politician still sleeps at night, and won’t change his/her tune for you!

Why did it take me so long to decide to do this?

The answer is remarkably simple: Complaining is easy. There’s a certain release to cursing something that doesn’t go right. It releases you from the hassle of actually doing something about it. If you can blame something else, you’re not the responsible party, right? WRONG! If you don’t learn from those mistakes or incidents, you’ll just have more and more to complain about later on…

My dad always says that when you point a finger at someone (or something) three fingers are pointing back at you. This is why No Excuses is part of my 21 day experiment. If I’m not happy with something in my life, instead of making excuses (“It’s the economy!” “It’s the weather!” “I’m just following orders!”), I’ll find solutions and a way to take advantage of the opportunities.

I would like to invite you all to join me in this experiment. You don’t have to buy the bracelet, just throw a rubber band on your wrist, or download the widget like I did. The point is to stop complaining. And stop making excuses!

I will, of course, be blogging my progress, and in the name of honest blogging, will blog my failures as well.

If you are joining me in this experiment, please, let me know below. I will also start a discussion on my Facebook fan page, so you can chart your progress there as well!

Good luck!

Last night, Kat had an interview with one of the teachers who is leading her delegation to Australia. I was working, so I wasn’t here to stand over her shoulder and make her even more nervous. She feels that she did very well. She got the impression that the teacher liked her, and she was told that her application is ‘pending approval’. Part of that process is getting letters of recommendation from teachers, which she has already talked to the amount of teachers she needs and is just waiting to get them back and send them off.

I can not relate to you through these words how proud I am of ‘The Teenager’. Too often, I make fun of her here, on twitter and facebook, and at home. It’s all in good fun and easy. After all, she’s a TEENAGER! But truth be told, I am amazed each and every day at the young woman she is becoming. I remember utterly failing at getting in to Honor Society in high school because I couldn’t work up the courage to ask a teacher for the recommendation, something Kat has no problem with. I’m almost jealous of her courage, but also extremely proud.

She is creative and smart and fun, and I am truly proud to be a part of her life. I’m sure she’ll teach those Aussies a thing or two this June!

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!

For those of you that are just tuning in, or Googled ’spiritual enlightenment’ and somehow wound up here, let me assure you that Sunday Sermons here at Howefitz Blog are anything but sermons. Here I explore matters of the spirit in a way that, I hope, inspires thought within others. I am not here to tell you what to believe, and any viewpoint is welcome…

I regret that I need to start this post with some sad news. We recently learned that one of my teenage step-daughter’s friends passed away last Saturday. We don’t know the circumstances of his death, only that ‘he was found in the morning.’ Now, just that phrase sends a parent in to a frenzy. Was he in to drugs? Was it suicide?

We launched these questions at our daughter in fear for her before we realized that she had to be hurting from the loss of a friend, one of her best.

After calming down and allowing her to talk to her mother privately, I took time to reflect on death and what happens after we die…

Science tells us that matter and energy can not be created nor destroyed. It can, however, be transformed. My body will become dirt once more that will then nourish the plants. But that energy that once propelled my body and gave me the motivation to do all those things that I’ve wanted to do… where does it go? How is it transformed?

Of course, that’s where religion comes in, to handle those matters of the spirit. Some people believe that essence goes to Heaven or Hell, some believe that Heaven is on a planet within this solar system. Some believe that we come back in another form. One of my favorites are the Buddhists, who believe that once a soul achieves Nirvana, it can choose to come back and guide others to Nirvana. This is what the Dalai Lama is believed to be: the reincarnated spirit of Siddhartha Buddha, here to guide others to Nirvana.

So what leads a soul to so desperately have a need to try to destroy itself? I’ve wrestled with this idea on many an occasion. Being a person that has never experienced that feeling myself, I can’t possibly imagine it. But I know there are people out there that do, and I certainly don’t want to take that lightly.

I came up with this scenario. You can call me a romantic. You can certainly call me naive. This is something I thought could possibly be an answer.

When I was young, I had no doubt in my mind that there was one true soul mate out there for me. I also was pretty sure I would never find that person. Those rare times when I would hear of one part of an older couple dying, and the other following soon after, I would think that was the most romantic thing I’d ever heard. But I knew the odds were against me in finding that person for myself. What if my soul mate was on the other side of the world? If there is life on other planets, maybe my soul mate was in another galaxy!

I got to thinking about what we mean by ’soul mate’. I feel that many believe that a soul mate is another person that compliments you. Someone that you are able to be open and honest with. Someone that is strong when you are weak, and together you make one complete formidable force. Only together are you unstoppable.

But what if it gets deeper than that?

How is it possible that our world’s population continues to grow if the energy that gives life can not be created?

What if a soul can be divided? What if what we perceive as soul mates are actually two pieces of the same soul that has been divided in to two corporeal vessels?

What if a soul got divided not only in space but in time? What if the soul could sense that it’s other half was missing, nowhere to be found?

That could certainly torment someone. Even though a physical brain may not be able to conceive of the notion, what if the soul is fighting for control, looking for some way to be reunited with that other piece, and since there are still no time machines, and as far as I know, ‘The Lake House‘ is fiction, that soul has to find a way, possibly a brutal way, to begin anew.

I’ve probably freaked a few people out. Rest assured, I’m not advocating any kind of violence, even to one’s self. I understand the dangers of romanticizing suicide, and that’s not my intent. I am just wrestling with ideas.

Of course, there are many more scenarios for twisted souls. What makes someone go in to a frenzy and start killing complete strangers? Why do we insist on going to war over religion and greed? How can one side win when both sides believe that God or their gods are on their side?

Of course, these are the questions that humankind has wrestled with since there was a humankind.

As for Kat’s friend, we don’t know his parents, and they had moved out of state before this happened. If Kat knows the circumstances of his death, she’s not being forthcoming. Frankly, this new age of deadly violence in high schools scares me something fierce. My wife are debating seriously whether our little ones will go to public school or if they’ll be home schooled.

Of course, I fear that putting ideas out there like I detailed above will add to the notion that suicide is romantic. I certainly don’t want to do that, but it seemed to work out for that Shakespeare guy…

Any ideas on death and the senseless taking of life are certainly welcome. I apologize for being pretty darn depressing this morning, but it’s all I can think about. The loss of a young life is a lot to deal with, whether it touches you personally or not. This is just my way of trying to make sense of something that, really, there is no way to make sense of.

So just as the week was a blur for us, please enjoy this whirlwind photo tour of the weeks highlights!

What is Calli sitting on? A stone wall?

Nope! This is a sculpture of a serpent named ‘Squiggles’. Squiggles lives at the Arvada Center of Arts and Humanities in Arvada, Co. Here, Kat helped Calli make it to Squiggles’ head. I’m not sure how big Squiggles is, but he’s HUGE! The Arvada Center is where we went to the People to People presentation. We probably could have spent the entire day here…

Tristin looked thoughtfully over his sisters playing on the giant serpent. That’s Daddy’s little Jedi!

Kat and Calli pose at the tail of the beast.

We went to the Downtown Aquarium in Denver for lunch. Unfortunately, they were having a big Valentine dinner event and couldn’t seat us. But Tristin looked amazed by everything anyway!

We then wound up at the Colorado Mills Mall, where Calli and I got to ride a turbo-charged carousel. This is a huge outlet mall, and Calli and Tristin came out of Gymboree with entirely new wardrobes!

Tuesday, we got to feed Tristin for the first time. Due to a back order issue with the pad we ordered from Fisher Price, we didn’t yet have a high chair to put him in, but that wasn’t going to stop us from getting some carrots in to this kid! I apologize that I’ve worked my way in to these pictures. Just pay attention to the cute kid with the quizzical look on his face, not me. (Like that’s hard to do! )

Gimme that spoon, Daddy! I'll do it!

Calli: Hey, Daddy! Can I help? Tristin: I told you I got it!

That's the face of a baby with a full tummy!

I certainly hope you enjoyed this week in review! I know I’m having fun!

Happy Fatherhood Friday!

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!

So to bring this discussion back around to me, (isn’t that what blogging’s all about? ) my wife and I have thought long and hard about changing the name of this blog. No one really knows what a ‘Howefitz’ is, much less a ‘Howefitz Blog’. Incidentally, ‘Howefitz’ is an amalgamation of my last name, ‘Howe’, and my wife’s maiden name, ‘Fitzgibbons’. We talk about opening a toy/comic store all the time, and a long time ago when discussing a name, one of us (neither one of us remembers who) suggested ‘Howefitz Toys and Comics’. The store still has yet to exist, but the name Howefitz has become my online handle far and wide across the internet.

When I started this blog, I had no idea what I was going to write about on a regular basis. I had to find a niche, and it really didn’t take all that long. So my wife and I have been discussing a new name that reflects the niche that I’ve settled in to: Daddy Blogging. As I walked around this meeting of hopeful, Australia-bound teenagers and their parents, I realized that none of the other parents had babies on their shoulders. Kids Calli’s age were even non-existant in this ballroom meeting place filled with the parents of teenagers.

It must have sunk in to my wife as well, because on the drive back up the mountain, she suggested calling the blog ‘Diplomas and Diapers’. Before that she had suggested ‘College and Diapers’, but college is still a couple of years yet. The reason we’re both leaning toward a name that reflects the ages of our kids is that we feel this situation is somewhat unique. We are experiencing a broad range of parenting situations simultaneously because of the gap in our children’s ages.

Now, when I think of names for characters for my fiction, or blog names, I do some research through the Google. A quick search this morning netted not a lot that matches ‘Diplomas and Diapers’, but I did find articles and even a day care called ‘Diapers and Diplomas’, which are sources for teen pregnancy and the day care is for the children of teens that are going to school. Hmmm… I also found a Mommy Blog called ‘Diapers to Diplomas‘, which is a stay at home mom’s effort to catalog ideas to use in every stage of parenting.

So ‘Diplomas and Diapers’ is close to an existing blog’s name, and could make people think of teen pregnancy, something for which, thank goodness, I have yet to have any experience with. Am I overanalyzing? What would you call a Daddy Blog from a dad that has a teenager and babies in the house? Maybe I should have some kind of contest…