So what do you do with it all?

Posted on November 2, 2007 · 1 Comment

The Perfect Storm of Halloween Candy.  LatteGirl and TheWife made their way over to LatteGirl’s school for “Trick or Trunk”  (For those not familiar Trick or Trunk is sort of like an abbreviated trick or treat game.  Parents from the school all park in the parking lot, standing by their trunks (get it?) and the kids go Trick or Treating from car to car.  The good thing about this is that basically you (presumably) can trust all the candy that your kids get, and (yeah right) there is no need to go door to door trick or treating (this second part is a joke).  The bad thing is that this provides huges amounts of candy for the kids (that isn’t so bad), with them having to cover minimal ground to get it(this is where the problem exists).

So now LatteGirl had met up with her BFF from school and they “work the parking lot” together for candy as the mother’s look on.  (Don’t worry where I am, we will get to that in a minute.)  Afterwards the girls then want to “start” trick or treating, so the mother’s decide to allow the girls to hit any house along the way back from school to the BFF’s house.  That as it turns out is 1/2 mile away.  So by the time they finished they had not one but two large bags EACH, brimming with candy.

Meanwhile back on the home front, I sat patiently awaiting trick or treaters.  This has been a dying tradition on my block.  Unfortunately, there are far too many people on my block that don’t participate.  Thus leaving the block rather dark.  So the kids come less and less.  This year looked to be starting out differently, as we got about 10 kids within the first 1/2 after I got home from work.  But then… nothing.  It was like they all disappeared.  I could hear kids several blocks away.  I could see them walking down the main street.  But very few ventured our way again the rest of the night.  The few that did were handsomely rewarded with huge amounts of candy.  But even with that, I was left with quite a bit.

After sorting through the stuff that nobody like, TheWife and I each taking a plastic pumpkin full of candy to work, each we still have more candy than (I think) any one location (short of a candy store) should have at any one time.  So, what do you do with your “overflow?”

Filed Under: Holidays, House and Home, Where's the Manual?

The Digital Audio Player Dilemma

Posted on October 30, 2007 · 4 Comments

I am the proud owner of a ZUNE  (more on that soon).  However, when I purchased a Digital Audio Player (DAP) for TheWife, Zune did not yet offer a flash based player, the style she wanted for workouts and running.  So much to my chagrin, a swallowed hard and bought her an iPod Nano.

Here we are, a year later, and now thanks to my neice having gotten an iPod from her father (my brother in law) last year, LatteGirl has begun hinting that she would like a music player of her own.  Since LatteGirl and I have been doing walks on the days that TheWife has been doing her 5K runs, this has only increased her desires to have the ability to listen to music like mommy does during her runs.

Which brings me to the two part dilemma.  First, TheWife and I are both feel unsure about giving a 7 year old(and a half… sorry honey) a DAP of her own.  TheWife feels it is too indulgent at that age, I am more willing to give into it, so long as she sticks with over the head style headphones and not earbuds.  So question one, how old is old enough for such a thing?  And if it is OK, do we have to start her out with one of those cheesy kid style ones (i.e. Disney Tunes) or do we just go with a normal DAP?

Assuming we go with a normal DAP, that presents dilema number 2.  Most of the music thus far that has been purchased for LatteGirl was done on TheWife’s account… meaning the ever evil iTunes. Sure we can get around that by burning the songs to disk and then ripping them back onto the computer.  And next month (November) Zune will now be offering a Flash based DAP as well.  My inclination of course is to stay away from anything and everything Apple.  But I was the one that bought the Nano for TheWife to begin with, so it is really my fault she is “stuck” with it.  So, do I go with my heart and pick a ZUNE or do I take the easy way out and go the iPod route?  (Just another reason why DRM sucks)

Filed Under: I hate Apple Co., My So Called Life, Where's the Manual?

Halloween Rules?

Posted on October 24, 2007 · 4 Comments

Over at Notes from the Trenches (and technically via Parenting before that), there were a question and an intersting issue raised.  Being the windbag that I am on some issues, I thought it better to post a response that fill comments.  Plus I wanted to see what some others thought as well.

Now the first, is the question of is there an age limit for Trick or Treating?  Personally I don’t hold it against older kids to go trick or treating.  I do sort of have my own personal “rules” on it though.  I will usually indulge them less (one piece of candy whereas I tend to give the little ones a bit more since they will not be walking as much, and hence not getting to as many houses), and secondly, I “expect” a costume.  Walking around in your street clothes and carrying a pillow case doesn’t cut it for me.  If you want the spoils of the holiday, you have to at least make an effort.  So do you have an age limit for trick-or-treaters?

The second point was raised, as sort of an aside where Chris ranted “about parents who let their kids run wild on Halloween night with no supervision.”  Now this one I really have to admit struck me as odd.  I guess because my thinking is  virtually opposite.  In a way, I feel sorry for kids today.  When I was a wee lad (granted this was quite some time ago), I think I was six the last time my mother took “the walk” with me to go trick or treating.  After that, she decided it was entirely too much walking, and I was off on my own to go trick or treating from the time I got out of school until dinnertime, and then (when I was a bit older) again for another couple of hours after dinner.

Today, it is so much different.  Going trick ‘o treating after school is a virtually fruitless endevour (at least around these parts) as most people are in work, and even half (or more) of the kids are in some sort of aftercare program.  So the time to gather goodies has become relegated to an after dinner event.  And then after a long day of work, preparing dinner, etc.  a parent has to then waltz their kid around the neighborhood, and they more often (except for the littlest of frolickers) worn out and tired first.  Thus limiting how much time the child has to “make the rounds”

Don’t get me wrong, I completely understand WHY parents do it.  I do it as well.  We worked out a bit of a plan, where TheWife takes LatteGirl out first, and I stay at home to give out the candy, and then we switch roles, this ensures we are home for those looking for candy, while allowing LatteGirl to get her fill of Halloween fun without one of us getting too worn out to continue.  But I still feel sad that I don’t feel safe to let her just traipse around the neighborhood on her own.  And if you live in an area where you feel comfortable with that sort of arrangement, I must admit, I am a bit jealous.  Halloween is about candy, but it is also about a bit of mischeif, mindless frolicking about.  And these days, that is completely lost.

Filed Under: Holidays, Kids Stuff, Rantings, Where's the Manual?

Be careful of what you wish for…

Posted on August 31, 2007 · 2 Comments

So despite what I have written recently, we really did have a decent vacation.  OK, I had a decent vacation.  TheWife had a fun time.  LatteGirl, however had an all out blast.

Last Year, we enjoyed going to this place, but one of the few problems we had was LatteGirl and her being shy.  It was like she was attached to our hips the entire time.  She wasn’t interested in playing with or getting to know the other children at the resort, and we had to keep her “entertained” the entire time.

We were detemined to try and help her get past this when we went on vacation this year.  We planned, we schemed, we had everything all set and agreed upon so she couldn’t play one parent against the other.  We accounted for every possible scenario.  Or so we thought.  There was one situation we had not taken into consideration, and it took us by surprise.

As it turns out, she was ready to spread her wings and start embarking on her own adventures.  No prodding necessary.  As a matter of fact, we had to strain a bit to reign her in, as she started to show some signs that she was actually getting annoyed and felt we were “cramping her style” and wanted us to just “leave her be.”  I had to actually restrain (no not physically) and occupy TheWife at times to keep her from constantly “checking up” on LatteGirl.  TheWife wanted LatteGirl to find some friends and be more social, but she was not prepared for this and it showed.  (OK, full disclosure.  I am not sure I am(was) ready for this either, but I was certainly better prepared for what we encounted than TheWife was.)

Suddenly, the little girl that wanted us to play games with her, and swim with her, and had to have us within an arm’s reach, no longer cared to have us around.  She did crafts with one set of friends.  Played sports with another.  Karaoke made her one of the most popular kids on the resort as everybody wanted to borrow her High School Musical Karaoke Disc, and at the evening “dances” the only time she wanted to know we were there was when she needed something to drink.  Heck there was one evening when we were tired, and she told us we could go “home” (back to our room), and she would “see us later.”  No, we didn’t allow that… not at 7 (TheWife says not for a few more years, I say not for another 20 years)

So in the end as the old adage goes, be careful of what you wish for… you just might get it.  And if it involves your child growing up… you might get it far sooner than you hoped for.

Filed Under: My Princess, Trippin', Where's the Manual?

Punk’d x2

Posted on June 6, 2007 · 1 Comment

OK, so I have seen it on sitcoms before, and I guess the best comedy is based on real life and all that, but never did I ever believe it would happen.  But it did.  Just let me say if you have money in Provident Bank, you may wish to rethink that choice, because today in the mail, LatteGirl (age 7 for those that haven’t been playing along) received a “Pre-Qualified offer” for a credit card.

Now to be honest, I am not sure what troubles me more.  The fact that she got a credit card offer.  Or that they offered her a better rate than I currently have on my own cards.

Now to doubled up on my “Punk’d”edness, as I was joking with TheWife about how they gave a 7 year old a credit card, LatteGirl walks up and asks me, “Dad what do you do for money?”  I tell her that I thought she already knew that I work as a Computer Programmer, to which she replies, “I just wanted to make sure, because if you told jokes, I don’t think we’d have enough money to go to Disney World”

She is obviously feeling far more fearless now that her birthday present season is behind her.

Filed Under: Humor, Kid Quotes, Where's the Manual?, WTF Moments
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