Why? But Why? Why? But Why?

I am sure a lot of parents are in the stage I am.  The why? stage.  Where no matter what you say it will be followed by your rugrat responding with why?

Oh and don’t try using why yourself because you either get why back in your face or a laugh followed by, but why?

I know it is great that they are inquisitive and want to learn about everything but there has to be a cutoff point.  Maybe a rule where you are only allowed to ask why 10 times a day or come up with a different word then why.  Also where did it come from and how do all kids know about it.

The one part about it that sends my head banging against the wall is when why pops up on things she knows like cooking dinner as this conversation went:

• What are you doing? (daughter)
• Cooking dinner. (Me)
• Why?
• So we can eat.
• Why?
• Because we are all hungry and it is supper.
• Why?
• Because it is dinner time.
• Why?
• Aren’t you hungry?
• Yeah, but why?
• So we can be full and then go to bed.
• Why?
• Because it is almost your bedtime.
• Why?
• (BANG. BANG.BANG goes my head against the cupboard.  Because, because that is just how life goes.
• Why?
• I don’t know.
• OK (followed by a big smile on her face……)
• (Under my breath) Little bugger.

Thus was my conversation with my daughter last night but hey I guess it’s better then trying to explain the birds and the bees.

| Enjoy your day|

How Social Media has Made the World Smaller

Being a kid of the 80’s our version of social media was watching tv and then talking to our friends about it the next day at recess.

I don’t ever remember knowing beforehand if a show was canceled or if it was a rerun the next week.  Let alone knowing what the actors were doing outside of the show.  Now we can actually follow the daily activities of our favourite celebrities and feel like we are a part of their lives.  Obviously to what they want to share with us.

Before you call me on stalking it’s just more of seeing that they do lead regular lives and it shows that they have fun with this new media as well.

Here is a perfect example of how the world is a much smaller place.  Growing up in Canada there were 3 crushes a boy would have – Punky Brewster, Samantha Micelli and Erica Ehm.  The crushes came from more of seeing them as be individual and not afraid to do their own thing.  The only interaction we had was laughing at what they said on TV.  Now with the Web tools such as Twitter and Facebook we get to become virtual acquaintances and follow their adventures and even get the ability to contribute to the discussion which is something you could never think of back then.

Why there is this need for this type of interaction I am not sure but it is fun to be able to follow the life adventures of people you grew up admiring.

| Enjoy the day |

Alyssa Milano

Soliel Moon Frye

Erica Ehm

New Year’s Resolutions

It’s that time of year to put out a list of resolutions of things you want to change or acheive over the course of the new year. Many that are put down ate always never acheived so it’s always important to make they are things you want to acheive and not just think you do.

Here is my list of what I want to achieve:

• design something everyday to increase my skillset
• maintain my blog so that it becomes a vital part of the community
• decide on my career direction and network, network, network
• drink more water
• become a vital part of This Week In Media
• get my company off the ground and decide what it wants to be

All achievable and let’s see what will happen in the new year.

Redefining the Home Entertainment Center

I am one of those techy people who always want to be ahead of curve with my friends when it comes to home entertainment.  I was the first of my friends to have a DVD player with a surround sound system.

Being ahead of the curve does bring up some issues when I venture to other people’s houses as it always leaves me wondering why they still had a VCR and listening through little tiny tube tv speakers.

Now the home entertainment center is redifined again with the XBox 360 being the component to bring it all together.  And you can have everything you need at your fingertips.

My current system includes:

• a 32″ HDTV
• Satellite TV with 120 GB DVR
• XBox 360 hooked up to the internet through home network
• Nintendo Wii

While this doesn’t sounds like much but with the Xbox 360 hooked up through the home network I am able to access my home computer so that I can watch movies, listening to music and scan through photos all from my couch.

I never imagined a few years ago when I had a seperate system for music and movies that we would be where we are now where everything is all in one place.

| Enjoy your day |

Monday Musings

So over the last week here are things that have made me go….hmmmmmm.

1. Why is it my daughter wants to sleep in on weekdays yet be up at the crack of dawn on weekends.
2. Why do stores (Walmart are you listening?) in Canada advertise all week to not go across the border on Black Friday because they are having a Saturday/Sunday Huge Event and it turns out that it was basically a regular sale.
3. Why can’t people on Twitter make the attempt of conversation instead of just demanding a Google Wave invite – I might actually send you one then.
4. How do the “People of Walmart and People of Costco” not realize they are being photographed.
5. I am just glad my 2 year old shouts out “I have to pee!” in public like she does at home.

| Enjoy your week |

Living the Google-centric life

You might as well give up and give to Google being king on how you can organize your life.

First off would be to start using Gmail.  It is a free email service and it has unbelievable features including a great search system that you can find any email or information in an email no matter how deep it is in your inbox.

Another great feature of Gmail is that ability to turn your email into IMAP which would keep your inbox updated whether you logged in on the web, mobile, or a desktop client like Microsoft Outlook and all of your email would be synced and automatically change when you receive, send or delete.

With Gmail comes the Contacts feature in it which on the outside may seem plain and boring but is quite powerful.  The one feature I like is that anyone who either you emailed or has emailed you gets put into an ‘All Contacts’ group so that even if the email gets deleted you will always have that contact information.  From there you can choose to place them into the main ‘My Contacts’ grouping.  Another great feature of Contacts is that you can go through you contacts and see what recent conversations(email or instant message) with them so you never lose that email.

Moving from Gmail is the Calendar feature which again is automatically synced if you have your Gmail IMAPed so that anything you change on one device is changed on another other devices you have synced.  There are a number of incredible features that come with GCal to list here but one feature is the the ability to put public calendars into your own GCal account so you don’t have to spend time inputting each item indivually.  So you can get your favorite sports teams schedule or your favorite TV channel schedule put right into your calendar so you never miss a date.

This is just the tip of the iceburg on what you can do to keep your life organized.  Try it once and you will find it hard to go back to your old system.

Find all the information to get started at:

Gmail

GCal

All information Google on lifehacker.com

Random Thoughts

Here are some things that I saw this weekend and thought…huh these people actually made it out their front door.

If you are going to a toy warehouse sale to buy Christmas gifts for your kids – why do you bring your kids with you?  Now I can see kids 2 and under who don’t really get the idea of Christmas cause hey I am guilty of taking my 2 year old to a toy store and asking if she likes this and then buying it in front of her.  But hey when your kid is 6 and having a meltdown because he/she can’t get a toy.  Don’t blame it on the child.

With the recent hands-free law that came into effect in Ontario I know you might not be use to it yet…..but don’t do it in front of a cop shop.  That is just way too easy for them.

Fine you are going to put up Christmas lights in November – easier to do it in the warmer weather.  But please don’t turn on all of your decorations before I have to wear my winter coat.

Every day is a new adventure.

Mushroom Risotto

Looking for a meal for Sunday night why not try pork chops .  You can cook the pork how ever you like it.  Me I prefer the BBQ.  Put a little oregano, thyme and any other seasoning you prefer and cook each side about 8-10 minutes and you are good to go.  But wait don’t you need a side dish, why not try mushroom risotto.

Ingredients

• medium white onion
• 1 pkg mushrooms
• arborio rice – 12 oz
• butter
• olive oil
• worcestershire sauce
• chicken or beef stock – 900 ml
• parmesan cheese

Start by heating up in a medium sized saucepan with olive oil on medium  and then put in the onion that has been diced and start browning it.  After about 5 minutes put in the chopped mushrooms with a couple of knobs of butter and start softening up the mushrooms.  As the mushrooms are softening up put in some worcestershire sauce to taste – the more you put in the meatier your risotto will taste – and then put in your arborio rice heating it up with the mushrooms and onion.

After a few minutes add the stock until everything is covered and let the rice cook.  Keep stirring throughout the process and as the rice absorbs the stock add more stock.  Keep repeating until all the stock is in the pan and then let the rice cook.  Should take about 15 minutes for the rice to be fully cooked grate some parmesan cheese over top and serve it hot.

Once you master this dish you will find that it is a great thing to have in your pocket as it not only impresses people when they taste it but you can also add different vegetables into it like beans and make a different dish all the time.

Here is what it should look like in the end.

Have fun and enjoy your Sunday Dinner.

How the DVR has saved marriages.

Living the single life meant one thing you could watch sports whenever you wanted and you could actually see a game live and not spend the whole evening trying to avoid the score.

I really think DVR’s were invented by a couple of husbands who kept missing the game because either they were stuck watching some drama with some guy named McDreamy or ended up spending the evening chasing down a 2 year old trying to get them to bed.  We advertise them as tools so that you don’t miss a show and can pause the TV at any time but the hidden message that only guys can read is “See every game when you can’t”Now I am sure most guys are like me and have invented a new sport, “Avoiding the score”.  This sport can be seen nightly in most living rooms and you have learn the rules real quick or else you will come across the score.

1. To really make sure you don’t see the score when one show is finished on the DVR pause it, don’t delete it.  Doing this prevents live TV from coming on while you switch to another show as you can always go back later and delete the show.
2. If you must delete the show first turn down the volume of the TV and block out the upper third of the screen as that is where the put the score
3. Do not – I repeat- Do not go on Facebook, Twitter or any sports message board as you never know when the arena announcer posts the score – Thanks Stu.

Oh and one more thing guys this doesn’t work the other way around – trust me I tried.

If only we know when we were kids how much sleeping would be valued when we become adults.

Imagine if we were given a chance to sleep 12 hours a night do you think we would be waking up at 3am?  Then why do our kids wake up?  Pretty much like clock work I hear the door open and the patter of little feet come running out of the room wanting to jump into our bed.  Ok I know we have a king-sized bed but you add two adults, one 2 year-old and of course an extra pillow, a stuffed animal or two and an extra blanket the bed gets rather cramped – aaah…why don’t you want a bed to yourself.

And there you have it my nightly stare downs with my 2 year old in a dark hallway.  Me asking her why she is awake and her ignoring the question and pointing towards my bedroom door.  So after 10 minutes of back and forth I decide it will be easier to let her crash on our bed then not sleep.  Even after that somehow I seem to end up on the edge when my daughter takes up my whole side.  Ahhhh…the sleeping joys of a parent.