This week’s spotlight shines on Gregory Ng from Noodad.  I love his blog’s tag line “Wiping asses and taking names since 2006,” and his sense of humor is evident as soon as you look at his post titles (10 Great Ways to Lower Your Sperm Count is just one example).

Tell a little about yourself. My name is Gregory (Greg) Ng. I am married and have 3 kids: A 5 year old daughter, a 3 year old son, and a 1 year old son. We just moved to Cary, North Carolina. For the past 15 years my wife and I have been living in Boston. By day, I am an advertising and marketing creative director. By night, I am a blogger, social media lover, poker player, and die hard Red Sox fan.

What about your family background? I am a Chinese American and my wife is Caucasian. Raising kids of mixed race presents a new set of challenges, ranging from explaining to them why they don’t “look” like their cousins on either side of the family to preserving rich traditions while embracing new ones.

What do you like most about being a dad? I love being surprised when seeing mannerisms and personality traits that are passed down to my kids. Sometimes I will just watch them playing and see my daughter flick her hair back just like my wife or one of my sons make a face that looks like my dad. Here are 3 amazing kids who look like my wife and I, and now they behave like us too!

What do you find most challenging about being a dad? There are two things I find challenging about being a dad. The first is remembering that everything I do, big or small, intentional or not, is consumed and interpreted by my kids and can be developed into lifelong memories or lifelong bad habits. The last thing I want is for my kids to grow up with the mouth of a sailor.

The other is the great deal of responsibility in not missing out on my kids’ childhood. Being a working dad is stressful sometimes to balance overachieving at work and overachieving at home.

What’s your most memorable experience(s) so far as a dad? The most memorable experience I have had as a dad was the first time my 2 older kids met their baby brother. To see the look of love, wonder, and amazement in their eyes when they saw their baby brother made me proud of how my wife and I raised them and this great new family of five we had.

In general, how do you think dads are perceived? Why? Dads are perceived to be disinterested in the pregnancy process, unwilling to help out with the kid related duties, and impatient with their wives and the emotional roller coaster they go through. I find it disheartening when people tell me “you are such a good dad!” as if being a good dad is a novelty. I find it funny when dads have a problem carrying diaper bags because they look too feminine. Seriously? Or when they tell their wives they need guy time on weekends. Really? I think a small amount of dads give the rest of us a bad name.

How has the experience as dad helped you discover something new about yourself? Being a dad helped me redefine what “success” means to me. Prior to having kids, my sights were set at one goal: kicking ass in my career and living life to its fullest. But kids taught me to realize that life without kids is nowhere close to living life to its fullest, and although accolades and awards at work are nice, they don’t hold a candle to a hug or a smile from my kids.

Who do you go to for advice about fatherhood? When I need advice about fatherhood I turned to 3 people: Vito Corleone, my dad, and my friends. In that order.

Do you hang out with many other dads? If not, why? If so, what do you do together? Almost my entire network of friends are dads. Our get togethers typically revolved around, a poker table, a barbecue, or a big screen TV.

Tell a little about your website. I co-founded a website for dads in 2006 called Noodad. Noodad is a cross between Maxim magazine and Babycenter.com. We have instructional content, but also write about beer, video games, poker and pregnant celebrities.

I also run 4 other sites and serve as a contributor on 2 others. You can visit http://www.gregoryng.com as a hub to all my online links.

Anything else you’d like to share? Yes, I used to be an Elvis impersonator! In a past life I was Chelvis: The Chinese Elvis and you can see me at my website, www.ChelvisLives.com.

Next week’s Spotlight on Dads will feature a brand new dad! Come back and learn more about another involved Dad.  Make sure you don’t miss it - Subscribe to get free updates.

Spotlight on Dads is a weekly series published each Saturday on Discovering Dad. Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section. Your feedback and recommendations will help to shape this series. Thanks!

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©2008 Discovering Dad. All Rights Reserved.

Daniel Hughes is a family man and a blogger. He and nine of his friends will be undertaking a hike of roughly 80 miles over the course of six days through a rural part of England (eerily close to where they filmed An American Werewolf in London, I’m told) to raise money and awareness for the Joseph Salmon Trust Fund.

The fund was created to honor the memory of Joseph Salmon, a happy and seemingly healthy 3-year-old that passed in his sleep- a victim of streptococcal pneumonia. The purpose of the charity, which was established by Joseph’s parents Neil and Rachael Salmon, is to aid families bereaved of a child.

From the official website, “The impact on the family whose child has died is Immeasurable, the pain is intense and the life they knew is changed forever. The early days following the death of a child are difficult, with lots of organizing to do as well as dealing with the overwhelming emotions of grief. At this time many expenses are incurred, work time is lost often with financial implications; to have to worry about financial matters is an added burden.

Any support with finances for funeral costs and eventually for a headstone would be a great benefit to families to help them meet the last needs of their child after their death.”

It’s not something any of us want to think about, and that is why most parents are left unprepared. Dan hopes to help.

I recently talked to Dan about his role and the passion that fuels him:

What is your relationship to the Salmon family?

I first met Neil, Joseph’s dad, when we were both 17. We shared a sense of humour, a love of films, and a cavalier attitude to attendance in class. Over the 15 years we have known each other we have remained firm friends, a friendship that has grown to envelop our families as well. Our children play together, and our wives laugh together.

Words can’t express how proud I am of my friends. The death of their son could have destroyed them and their relationship. But they have struggled through their pain, determined that if Joseph wasn’t given enough time to leave his footprints on the world then they would do it on his behalf. They want to help those who are going through what they are still battling every single day, and by doing so they risk their hearts being torn open each time they’re told of a child taken too soon. That sort of selflessness takes courage, strength, and an emotional fortitude that is rare in this world.

When did you think of the walk? When did you know it would really happen?

I’ve always had vague fancies of doing a long distance walk, but the sobering thought of walking twelve to fifteen miles a day for a week always brought me to my senses. But when Neil told me of his plans to set up a charity in Joseph’s name I decided that there could be no better cause to march for.

I announced my intention to do the 78 mile long Dales Way on October 23rd, 2007. By October the 26th, nine of my friends had said they decided they were going with me. It was then that I realized I was definitely going to have to buy a pair of walking boots.

Why are you doing this?

When Joseph died I felt totally helpless. I knew that just a few streets away my friends were sitting in their home going through the worst torment imaginable, and there was nothing I could do to ease their pain.

Three years on, I have now been given the opportunity to do something for those who have that same torment ahead of them. I am not an athletic man. I don’t do this sort of thing for fun. This walk is going to hurt, and it’s going to hurt badly. But I wanted to do something big both to show to Neil and Rachael, and also show to the world, how much they and their cause mean to me.

What as been the most interesting or surprising side-effect of undertaking this project?

The most incredible thing for me has been the amazing amount of support we’ve received from the blogosphere. Not only have we raised over £900 from the blog alone (that’s about $1800), but we’ve had people selling their art on our behalf, organizing fundraisers at their work, and offering prizes of $100 donation to the charity in the winner’s behalf competitions.

If anyone ever doubted that the blogosphere is a real community, then there is the proof right there.

Do your children know or understand what you are doing?

Amy, my 4-year-old daughter, knows that her friend Lydia used to have a big brother but he died. And she knows that daddy is going on a big walk soon. But she’s too young really to be able to understand much more than that. We’re keeping all the press clippings though, so one day we’ll be able to tell her and her brother Evan all about the time when daddy wore his feet down to mere nubs.

Are you, your family and your job prepared for the weeks of immobility that you will surely face when all is said and done?

A few of the guys doing the walk are taking the next few days off as well in order to recover. Me? I figure that it’s pointless wasting annual leave when there’s sick days to be taken.

If anything happens to you can I have your iTouch?

Don’t you read my blog, Whit? I lost it about two weeks ago. Sheesh!

_____________________________________

…and that is Dan Hughes, an ordinary man doing an extraordinary thing, and he could use your help. Our small corner of the Internet is full of love and support for the Salmons and the selfless quest that Dan and his friends are about to embark on, but it still isn’t enough. We all know that times are tight, but this, my friends, is something worthwhile. This is for the love of a little boy gone, and the parents that remain.

It is to help those parents that have nightmares and tragedy ahead.

Please help in any way you can:

The Joseph Salmon Trust

The Dales Walk

All That Comes With It

*Publisher’s Note: I want to thank Whit for bringing this article to me and the Discovering Dad community.  As many of you know, this topic hits very close to home for me, as my first daughter died of a heart disease when she was just 2 months old.  The feelings of loss and despair are hard enough to deal with for families who lose a child, and the financial burdens of the experience are often a catalyst to destroying marriages afterward.  Anything you can do to help with this cause would be much appreciated.  Good luck to Daniel and his friends who are walking, and good karma to the Salmons for creating such a worthy charity. -Jeremy

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©2008 Discovering Dad. All Rights Reserved.

Well, I’m proud and thankful that the subscriber count is back on track and hit a new record high today at 330 subscribers, or 51 more than when I started and a 19% growth in a little more than 2 weeks.  Sounds pretty good, right?  Wrong! Discovering Dad might be in the top third of the 108 contestants, but it is not even close to the leaders.  I’ve got a long way to go, and I need your help!

There’s only 12 days left in the competition, so it’s time to kick it into a different gear.  If you like the content and services provided by Discovering Dad, I need your help in getting the word out about the site and encouraging people to subscribe.  Tell your friends, neighbors and family members - there’s millions of parents out there surfing the Net, so the potential is HUGE! How is it that tech and money sites can get a bazillion subscribers, but parenting resource sites struggle to pick up a few dozen?  There’s definitely more parents than there are techies and accountants!

If you have a minute, please send your contacts a message about subscribing to the RSS feed at http://feeds.feedburner.com/discoveringdad or enter an E-mail at http://discoveringdad.net/subscribe.  If you have a website or blog of your own, I sure would appreciate a link or recommendation to the site.  I try to provide leads to great sites and posts as often as possible, and I genuinely appreciate the favor in return.  Thanks to everyone who has posted a badge or written a review - you all ROCK!

In addition, there is a benefit to those who you recommend and to you for referring.  As I stated last week, the Top Referrer Monthly prize pool was expanded to include the Top 3 Referring sites and a random subscriber will be given a prize each week, including a $50 SmartyPig gift card on the final day of the competition (July 31st).

Random Weekly Winner for this week is:

Stacey from Real World Mom

Congratulations Stacey!  You win a free t-shirt from Lijit Search!

And, here is the status for the monthly competition based on Google Analytics tracking results:

Top Referrer for the Month of July

1. Whiskey In My Sippy Cup - 226

2. I Am Husband - 152

3. Mom Generations - Jane’s Blog - 72

*Note: Somehow I got nominated as one of the Hottest Male Bloggers over at Jane’s blog.  No big surprise, but I didn’t win (I was stoked to get a few votes though).  Congratulations to Peter Shankman on winning. I did get this cool badge for being part of the competition though:

4. Momo Fali - 65

5. Secret Agent Mama - 62

Honorable mentions and not too far behind are: D is for Dad, Dad of Divas, Jogging In Circles, Honea Express and Mommy Daddy Blog.

What are the prizes for the Top 3 Referring Sites?

I’ve expanded the prize packages from the Top 2 to the Top 3 Referring Sites based on the addition of a new contest sponsor.  I also anticipate sweetening the 3 prizes throughout the month, as I get additional sponsors to contribute more prizes.

Top Referring Site for the Month of July - $50 SmartyPig Gift Card, a t-shirt from Lijit Search and a Featured Review of your site by me on Discovering Dad.

2nd Top Referring Site for the Month of July - $10 Joe’s Crab Shack Gift Card, a t-shirt from Lijit Search and a review of your site by me included in the normal rotation of posts on Discovering Dad.

3rd Top Referring Site for the Month of July - A prize pack of 8 popular books from Hachette Book Group USA, including A is for Atticus: Baby Names from Great Books, The Marriage Benefit and six others.

Assuming I have the kind of readers and blog friends that I do that can kick this contest into a whole new dimension and recruit droves of parenting friends to subscribe - WHEN I win Blogging Idol I will throw in another $100 American Express Gift Card to the Top Referring Site!!! (I have to WIN First Prize in the competiton for this to happen though )

Once again, I would greatly appreciate your help in getting the Subscriptions cranking, so that I can catch up to the leaders in the Blogging Idol competition.  I know that this is achievable, but I can’t do it without your help!  Let’s make a Dad site the first ever Blogging Idol!  We can do it!

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©2008 Discovering Dad. All Rights Reserved.

Jack Black does the voice of Po the Panda, and I always enjoy his humor.  Dustin Hoffman fills in the voice of the Kung Fu Master, and Angelina Jolie and Jackie Chan also portray characters.  It’s always a good sign for a kids film when it attracts some of the top talent in Hollywood to do the voices, in my experience.  Kung Fu Panda is no exception.

I don’t want to ruin the movie for anyone who hasn’t seen it, but I did want to offer up a positive recommendation.  This movie had an important message to kids, and it came through in a fun and accepting way.  The message was that you don’t need something “special” given to you to make you a better person.  It was about recognizing your own inner (and perhaps hidden) strengths.

All of the Kung Fu, action and adventure were just a bonus.  I definitely think this is a film Dads will enjoy taking the kids to watch.  You’ll leave feeling better than you did when you arrived, and it could even inspire a conversation between you and the kids about self-image and self-esteem.

Here’s one of the trailers to give you a little glimpse at the story line:

Anyone else who’s seen it have an opinion? Did you like it? Hate it? What did you think?

©2008 Discovering Dad. All Rights Reserved.

My daughter Chani and I took a 10 mile hike today, up in the Catoctin Mountains near Camp David.  We’ve been there many times before, but we never hiked this distance in the past.  Admittedly, I originally planned for us to hike about 5 miles, but I zigged when I should have zagged and we ended up taking the long way back to the car after reaching the halfway point.  Chani was thrilled

It gave us the opportunity to explore, exercise and discover things in the state park that we had never seen before, and when we got to the top of the mountain, the view was simply majestic.  They say you can see three states from the point known as Hog Rock.  Unfortunately, the sun was setting and our camera phones couldn’t get a good picture from the top.

We did manage to get some fun pictures while at Cunningham Falls though, so I thought I’d share them with you:

Chani enjoyed dipping her feet in the water after hiking the first 3 miles and climbing up the falls.

Here’s a picture of me after climbing down from the falls and back on the viewing deck.

Chani sitting on the edge of the viewing deck for one last minute of rest before we headed up the mountain to Hog Rock.

Here’s a picture of me and Chani at the very top of the waterfalls. We asked a fellow hiker to take our picture, and she did a great job. We always seem to meet nice people when out hiking.

We spent a little more than two hours hiking, climbing and exploring, and even though we were both getting sore and tired toward the end, we had a great time!  It was one of the most fun days I’ve had with Chani this summer, although I may have a hard time walking around tomorrow

Do you like to go hiking with your family or kids?  Any favorite spots or experiences you’d like to share?  Leave a comment - I’d love to hear about it!

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©2008 Discovering Dad. All Rights Reserved.