This is cool

Is your ‘home office’ a cramped corner of the bedroom? Is your office desk the dining room table? If so, this nifty thing might be for you. It’s a portable work station on wheels, so you can move it anywhere in the house, It’s got a bunch of drawers and a foldout laptop stand with mousepad extensio. Could be perfect for those dadpreneurs who live in small spaces. More details here (but no prices though)

What do you get the new parents that have everything?

What about this?

It’s a baby-shaped bag of rice with the kids name and vital statistics from it. According to the blog where I found it (here) , it’s sent to everyone on your birth announcement list. I kind of like the idea of sending it to new parents though.

I hate the Wiggles

I really do.  I feel somewhat un-Australian for saying so, but I just find them so inane, it makes me crazy.  Don’t get me wrong – I like a lot of kids TV, but the Wiggles just drive me nuts.  From the cheap sets, the bad lip syncing and the stupid plots  – it just offends me both as a  TV producer and a parent.

Unfortunately though, our son is addicted to them.

Take the one he’s watching at the moment – “Santa’s Rockin.”  For some reason only known to them, it guest stars a bunch of complete has-beens…..from Barry Williams (Greg on the Brady Bunch) to Ross Wilson (singer from a 70s Australian  band) to John Fogerty.  WTF?  I just don’t get why they’ve included these guys.

Like I said though, unfortunately our son is addicted to them…..which means that every time we rent one of their DVDs, or buy one of the puzzles, we’re encouraging them to make more.  *sigh*

For the record, I really like the following kids TV – Play School (an Australian staple), Little Einsteins and Thomas the Tank Engine.

What about you?  What kids TV really gets your blood boiling?  Also, am I wrong about the Wiggles?

Sick days

So, our son has been a little sick on the weekend with some sort of flu – runny nose, coughing, that sort of thing.  As Monday’s one of the days he spends the morning at pre-school, (and therefore, one of the days in which I can get a lot done) I woke up this morning with the dread that he was going to be too sick to go.  Alas, he is – and so he’s now downstairs watching a Wiggles DVD for the 20th time.

We made a good go of it though.  I actually got him dressed, made his snack, got him in the car, drove him to school and went upstairs to the school to drop him off.  I justified this by thinking that his cough didn’t sound that bad, and his nose had (mostly) stopped running.  (conveniently also ignoring his pleas of “I’m sick dadda.”)

When we got upstairs though, I had an attack of conscience.  I couldn’t leave him there to be possibly miserable (although, he’s such a good natured kid, I’m sure he would’ve played and been fine), but also importantly, I couldn’t leave him there to possibly infect other kids.  I know we hate it when he picks up colds and flus from other kids at school, so to do it deliberately just seemed to be too wrong.

Luckily, I don’t have anything too pressing to do this morning, so it’s fine that he’s at home.  I feel sorry for those parents though, that have a sick child, but also deadlines to meet, meetings to attend and employers that aren’t understanding.

Anyone got any stories about sick days with their kids?  Post them in the comments.

Hmmmm – not sure how I feel about this?

Saw this ad this morning at lifehacker.com, and ‘m not sure how I feel about it.

Isn’t it illegal to actively promote a product that helps people break the law?  Wouldn’t that be accessory before the fact?  (disclosure – my understanding of the law comes from watching episodes of LA Law many years ago)

Whether it’s illegal or not though, I’m not sure how I feel about this. If you’re going to steal, shouldn’t you keep it a secret?

Nice work if you can get it.

Here’s an interesting intersection of worlds.  A story from the paper of a city I used to live in (New York) about an entrepreneur in the city I currently live in (Vancouver).  But that’s not really important is it?  What is important, is the story in the New York Times about a 29 year old who built a dating site 5 years ago to help him learn a programming language.  The site is completely free and generates (he says) $10 million in revenue per year.

Do you podcast?

Do you podcast as part of your business?  If so, there’s an interesting commentary over at Mashable this week.  It talks about the writer’s ongoing trouble with finding a home for his podcast that rewards him fairly for the amount of times his production gets downloaded.  Seems this is one area that the advertising industry is still coming to terms with – or perhaps it’s a niche waiting to be exploited?  Click here to read the article in full.

How do you react?

I had two encounters today which make me realise I’m in the minority when it comes to being a stay at home dad.  First off, at my son’s kindergarten, there were 2-3 other mothers there, waiting in the same area for our kids to come out.  I can’t even remember the context of what was being said, but there was a reference to “whenever the mummies come to pick up their kids.”  I nearly piped up and said “and daddies,” but realised that would have made me look petty and a little odd.

Then, at the dry cleaners when I was picking up my wife’s clothes, the owner asked me if it was my day off.  I replied that everyday was my day off as I looked after our son full time.

I’m really not bothered at all by being the subject of incorrect assumptions, or excluded (in a very minor way), but I’m interested in what other experiences stay at home (SAH) dads have.  Are you bothered when people assume that you’re not the full time caregiver?  Are you bothered when people assume you’ve got the day off from your real job?  How do you respond?   Let me know in the comments section.

Thursday night cooking

Want something simple to cook tonight? – here’s our recommendation.

Roast Pork Steaks with Tomatoes and Pine Nuts

1 tblspn olive oil, plus extra to drizzle

4 lean pork steaks or chops

250g punnet cherry tomatoes

25g pine nuts

Splash balsamic vinegar

Basil leaves

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius.  Heat oil in large frypan over medium heat and cook the pork steaks for 1-2 minutes each side until golden brown.  Transfer to a large roasting pan, spaced well apart.  Cut the tomatoes in half and scatter over the pork, followed by the pine nuts.  Season well.  Place the roasting pan in the oven for 12-15 minutes until the prok is tender.  Remove from oven, sprinkle over the vinegar, and scatter with he basil leaves.  Serve drizzled with a  little extra olive oil.

This really is delicious.   Even my wife, who doesn’t really like pork all that much, loves this dish.

I always wondered if this happened….

So, for much of the past few weeks, I’ve been trying to register various domain names that reflect the businesses I’m setting up.  I’ve constantly been surprised by how many seemingly obscure and odd names are already registered.  In fact, I’d like to see some stats about how many domain names are actually in use and how many are just ‘parked’ as some sort of investment vehicle for the person that registered it first.

But it seems that some domain name registration companies have been engaged in a little underhanded practices – namely, registering names for themselves that have been searched for on their site.  Here’s how it works….

1)  Consumer searches for domain name.   2) Consumer sees domain name is available, but doesn’t register it immediately.  3)  Consumer goes back to register it at a later date, only to find the registration company has already done so – but graciously, they’re willing to sell it back to you….with a markup.  What a crappy thing to do.

Looks like Network Solutions is the main offender here – but of course, they have their supposedly justifiable reasons.  Here’s the coverage on the issue from the New York Times.