Dad Therapy

Nothing Better Than Free Homemade Pizza

David Thomas — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 20:20:21 -0600

Here’s one way social media pays off. I won a $100 gift certificate via Twitter to Homemade Pizza! If you’re not in the Chicago, Minnesota or D.C. area, Homemade Pizza is quite terrific. Courtney and I have been going there for over five years now. Basically, you order your pizza uncooked and throw it in the oven at home for 20 minutes and then partake in some deliciousness.

It’s actually home baked but who cares. Courtney forwarded me the Twitter code to retweet to enter the contest and the next day she told me I won. Simple right?

But get this, she was mad that I won and she didn’t. Now, the $100 gift card is coming home to both of us. It’s not like I’m taking it to my secret family across town, she just wanted the win to herself.

Luckily, she went to pick up the card tonight and felt like the winner when she got us dinner, a wheat crust with green peppers, broccoli, caramelized onions, olives and pineapple on her half. Carter got the Cutie Pie kids pizza you see here. Of course he didn’t touch it. He’s a picky eater, but he’ll probably like it cold tomorrow.

Winning was really nice especially because we’ve been such loyal customers for so long, although I don’t think that had anything to do with winning. The contest I believe is going on for another day or two so get on Twitter or Facebook and sign up.

Wives Will Shoot Down iPad

David Thomas — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 22:37:49 -0600

Dads, this is serious. After a brief talk with my wife this evening it seems there is no chance an iPad is heading to the Thomas household. I thought it would be a nice, lightweight alternative to the better-half’s clunky Dell laptop for her chatting with friends in forums and for recipes in the kitchen.

We also have our iPhones out all night long after the kids are down for twitter, facebook and email of course. So it could help with eye strain. Seriously.

But when I mentioned it as a technological innovation to her she said, “what do I need it for? I have my laptop.”

Damn. Foiled. Again. A Twitter pal reiterated this same scenario played out in his household. So dads everywhere share your iPad spouse stories below.

There is No Ethical Rule for Journalists Not to Help

David Thomas — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 14:02:46 -0600

In the past 48 hours there have been a few examples of journalists helping those impacted by the Haiti earthquake, namely CNN’s Anderson Cooper in the video above and Dr. Sanjay Gupta. This has raised questions among OTHER media, especially TV and Internet, of whether getting involved somehow diminishes the reporter’s objectivity and “crosses a line.”

I’m not sure what journalism school the people asking these questions went to - or their editors and producers - because unless I missed that day in ethics class the dilemma never came up.

I went to the Society of Professional Journalists website for clarification on their ethics policy and it makes no mention of taking part in the story like what the CNN personalities did. Here’s the section on journalists being independent: Act Independently

Journalists should be free of obligation to any interest other than the public's right to know.

Journalists should:
—Avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived.
— Remain free of associations and activities that may compromise integrity or damage credibility.
— Refuse gifts, favors, fees, free travel and special treatment, and shun secondary employment, political involvement, public office and service in community organizations if they compromise journalistic integrity.
— Disclose unavoidable conflicts.
— Be vigilant and courageous about holding those with power accountable.
— Deny favored treatment to advertisers and special interests and resist their pressure to influence news coverage.
— Be wary of sources offering information for favors or money; avoid bidding for news.

As you can plainly read the stuff to worry about is a conflict of interest. The closest thing to it is "shun secondary employment" but even that is quantified with "if they compromise journalistic integrity." Saving someone’s life clearly isn't going to do that.

I hate, hate, hate how mainstream media portrays journalism in an improper light. It downright baffles me how my local morning news – NBC5 in Chicago – would even bring it up in such a way.

It saddens me that I’ll have to explain to my son one day that if wants to be a reporter he’s perfectly right in lending a hand when he can. Other dads out there should be able to say the same, without any formal journalism training.

Dad's Day Off: Errands and a Movie ... Review

David Thomas — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 09:36:00 -0600

I actually don’t get today off as a holiday but I took it as a floating travel day anyway, not even realizing it was a holiday. I spent the morning running errands:

Haircut: At my favorite suburban barber, not my Loop guy
CVS: Drugstore run
Dr. Visit
Dog food run
Home Depot for some lightbulbs
Five Guys for lunch that I brought home so Carter could have some “Bye Byes”
Then I got to go out to a movie for the first time in 18 months.

After perusing Rotten Tomatoes to make my decision between Book of Eli and Daybreakers I was pretty excited to see anything. I decided on Daybreakers because it had slightly higher ratings and it was shorter.

It was actually a very good vampire movie from a very different angle. Most of the human population has turned to vampires via infected bats. These vampires harvest the blood from imprisoned humans but as the captured humans age and die and the vampires don’t the supply starts to run dry. Instead of starving, vamps turn into crazed bat-men and women when they haven't had blood for too long.

It’s a great plot to start with but they barely explain the whole “aging cow” problem, they just said humans were disappearing and not why (they could just be turning into vampires). And the other nonsensical part of course is that they should have just set up blood donation centers so humans could make money off their new found red gold.

Anyway, besides that it was pretty unbelievable how the directors created an alternative world, complete with blood infused lattes. And unlike Avatar there wasn’t even much CGI. It still felt real though and I think proves that you don't need to go overboard to be immersed in a fantasy world.

I generally don’t like Ethan Hawke but he played the role of conflicted Vampire scientist really well and Sam Neil makes a great bad guy. Plus, William Dafoe as the grizzled Vampire hunter? Come on, this is classic casting. Oh, and be warned, it's gory.

One problem was the ridiculous volume of the theater. Like I said it’s been a while since I’ve been to a theater, but I could hardly stand how loud the crashes and action scenes were. We’re talking stage amplifier loud. I’ve honestly been to concerts not that loud.

Anyway, all in all it was a pretty good day off.

QuadCamera iPhone app Makes Kid Photos Cool

David Thomas — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 10:22:00 -0600

I’ve had the QuadCamera app for a while and use it for some car shots, especially interiors to get a panorama effect. But I’ve had some fun recently capturing a Carter meltdown or two. Then today after realizing I spend a long time just sitting and watching Carter play with his toys I decided to play with one of mine.

I was surprised at how good the pictures were when I actually tried to frame them and took some time. The quad effect I think works best because the finished product is full size. If you try one of the long strings of images I’m not sure where you’ll ever view it anyway.

QuadCamera is $1.99 which is about the limit I have for paying for an iPhone app. A few more images below.

I'm On The Front Page of the Newspaper?!

David Thomas — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 14:06:13 -0600

One of my other blogs that is pretty much defunct was featured in today’s Daily Herald newspaper. My family and friends were a bit surprised, as was I, to see my mug on the front page. I've been posting to firejeffzucker.com now that the whole Conan O'Brien story broke, I've tried to offer the url to O'Brien's people and haven't heard word. We'll see if this story helps get the word to the right people.