Frenzied Daddy

You’ve probably noticed (or ignored) the BlogHer box to the left. They’re providing advertising. They’ve got some “floating layer” ads that are coming into their pipeline. Floating layer ads drift over the regular content. I’m going to leave them on for now, because, well, I’m unemployed. But if you don’t like them, drop me a line and I’ll remove them.

The unemployment line has gotten a little larger; FileFront.com is shutting down, and shuttering their business. That means that I’m unemployed, again. This is not a time for going off my meds and watching a lot of television, though. And this time I’m not playing Everquest 2, so won’t be grinding my conjurer. Nope, I have a bunch of irons in the fire and, while I need to get a full time job for the security of paying the monthly mortgages and other bills, I’m reasonably optimistic. A bunch of my other friends are unemployed too; (hi, Rachel!) – we could practically have a support group.

I was hoping for a more positive post for my 1000th post, but it’s an important change in my life, and should be marked by a post.

It’s funny, though. Some of my other jobs that I’ve lost when the business closed down, I have always worried that I caused it. Maybe if I worked a little harder. Maybe if I didn’t make so many mistakes. What if it’s all my fault. But this time, I know it wasn’t my fault. (Thanks Chris for making this clear).

Speaking of Chris; Chris O’Brien was a terrific boss.

My friend, young raven, asked me whilst enroute to the airport, if I was gaming currently. Sadly, no. However, I am living vicariously through several gaming-related podcasts and other sundry stories. Wil Wheaton just wrapped up his story about sending his son and some friends through the beginnings to their game, and his reflective tips on DMing are also great suggestions for new parents who haven’t yet figured out their game. Or old parents who, like me, sometimes lose track that the goal of this journey is fun.

Whenever you can, say “yes.” I think my first instinct is always to say “no.” No, you can’t have another Popsicle. No, I won’t help you clean your room. No, I won’t read you another book. No, I won’t tell you a story * this topic is actually reserved for another post . What if you tried saying “yes.” What’s the worst that’ll happen, if she has another Popsicle? What are you doing rather than helping him clean his room? Can it wait? Why not read another book? Our kids hear “no,” too often, and we should practice saying “yes.”

Everything is important to the PCs (kids) It’s probably not a big deal to you if you take the blue blanket or the pink one, but she’s throwing an ever-loving fit. If it’s really not important to you; try letting them pick once in a while. With the previous one and this one, I’m not advocating “say yes every time,” kids need to learn that they don’t always get their way. But they can sometimes get their way, can’t they?

Listen to your players (kids). Are you half-listening, singing to the music or reading the recipe for the stroganoff? Focus on what they’re saying, and how they’re saying it. Treat it as important, and since they’re kind of new to the world, you may have to go the extra steps of showing that you’re listening by *gasp* making eye contact and repeating back what they’re saying. You know, “good listening” skills.

Keep it simple, even if you’re just getting started. Kids don’t really care if you arrange a huge fantastic trip, like parachuting into the zoo and enjoying the day. All they really want is simple stuff – especially if they’re infants or toddlers. How many parents have you seen with these incredibly ornate parties for their two-year-old? Ponies? Alligators? What’ll you do next year? Keep it simple

You should go take a look at his post. He’s got several more points, and the only one that I think doesn’t directly translate to parenting is “buy a DM screen.” But even that one? Yeah, the kids don’t need to know everything.

Huh. Post 999? Weird.

To be totally blunt, I haven’t given much thought to “the problem of Israel.” I don’t think about it, I don’t particularly want to think about it, I don’t have much of an opinion on it. I know that there are reasons the US supports Israel. But this should have some interesting fallout. The US Army has revealed that Israel has nuclear weapons. Generally, it’s been handled like gay people in the military; the US doesn’t ask Israel, and Israel doesn’t tell the US if it has nukes. Which has left us in an ambiguous Schroedinger’s Missile state.

However, with release of this report, the US military has confirmed that they do have nuclear weapons, which puts US aid to Israel in jeopardy:

Prohibits most U.S. assistance to any country found trafficking in nuclear enrichment equipment or technology outside of international safeguards. President Jimmy Carter found Pakistan in violation of the Symington amendment in 1979 because of Islamabad’s clandestine construction of a uranium enrichment plant. U.S. aid to Islamabad was possible between 1982 and 1990 only through the use of presidential waivers.

That’s from armscontrol.org, and it covers how we kept aid flowing to Pakistan (and other countries listed on that page) through the use of presidential waivers.

I’m positive that President Obama will do the waiver thing for Israel. I’m not sure how else it’ll play out. It might be interesting for the future of our countries though.

Man, this sucks. I should stick to family stories

Peruse this page for an perfect practice of puerile puce purple prose.

An excellent example of “taken to extremes.” And be warned, it contains a “description” of a naked woman.

What I have to do to get Erich to have his hair cut like this…

/me saunters off, whistling innocently.

Hmm, that’s interesting.

One of the ways that the Star Trek reboot this summer is being promoted is through twitter; you can follow the Kelvin (and now there’s a great name for a ship). Actually, it’s a twitter feed for their Sweepstakes. But I’ve seen a lot of “buzz” generation through twitter- everyone from Santa Claus to the Transformers is trying to figure out how to use Twitter to spread the word about their product.

I doubt I’ll be entering their sweepstakes. The prizes are a trip to Hollywood for the premiere (and to wave hi to Shane and Sam and their girls) or a zero-gee air flight (whoopsie, I need another air sickness bag). However, if Intel were handing out Lenovos (especially with linux installed), that’d be a no brainer.

Anyway, mentioning Star Trek on your twitter will get whomever is the human behind the USS Kelvin’s twitter feed to notice you and follow you. So get crackin!

Daily, I am inspired by working with Jeff at HyperDesk. His artists have wrought a beautiful Star Trek theme for Windows XP, and they’re porting some of their very popular themes to PlayStation®3 and PSP®.

I love the colors of the new Star Trek theme and the way the images leap out at you. It’s really a great job.

No, not “be the change you want to see in the world” although that’s a great philosophy. And not “be the star of your own story” although that’s a great philosophy too. I mean, go to this site (heavy use of flash, durr) and create your own hero.

eta: forgot to add the url. d’oh!