I’ll try to share some key thoughts and moments on Twitter; do feel free to follow me today, if you’re not already doing so. It’ll be a very informative day, and as long as my phone doesn’t die, which it very well might because I didn’t think to charge it, I’ll be happy to share the wealth.

The timing’s actually great, because I’m in the middle of overhauling my whole system. I recently switched from Remember the Milk to Evernote, and so far the latter seems much better suited to my needs. But that’s another story for another day.

The tweet in question was a link to a story on the BBC website about Connecticut’s decision to abolish the death penalty. They’re the seventeenth state in the union to do so, and although their governor called the bill’s signing a “historic moment,” he said it was a time for “sober reflection, not celebration.”

Nonetheless, a lot of people celebrated as they spread the word. One retweeter added a misspelled but hearty “Good for Conneticut!!!” to his retweet, while another congratulated Connecticut for “joining civilization” in hers.

But of course, not everyone agreed with the decision. Take, for example, the self-identified conservative activist who said “Much better 2 fund & house violent criminals! Morons.”

Now, I like when this sort of thing happens, because it doesn’t happen very often. People tend to prefer the company of people who share their opinions and perspectives, and that’s especially true on the web, where you’ve got a lot more freedom to choose your company. Twitter, which is more about content and less about relationships than other social networks, is one of the worst offenders. Each of us is probably more likely to “friend” a conservative brother-in-law on Facebook than we are to follow some obnoxious pundit on Twitter.

This unfortunate tendency goes hand-in-hand with the sad notion of politics as a team sport. Twitter’s not to blame for people labeling themselves liberals or conservatives, or for tuning out the opinions of their so-called opponents, but it’s certainly encouraged these attitudes.

These days, unless you’re trolling or being trolled, you’re probably not that likely to have a lot of online conversations about social issues with people who don’t agree with you. The only time I tend to get this sort of feedback, in fact, is when someone like David Miller shares my tweets with people far beyond my social circle.

In this case, I didn’t agree with a person who called the Connecticut state legislature a bunch of morons because they’d abolished the death penalty – and I decided to respond.

I didn’t argue against the death penalty on moral grounds, because I’m sure she arrived at her support for capital punishment through her own perfectly valid moral code. I didn’t cite any of the studies that show that it’s actually more expensive to house an inmate on death row, because I knew I’d only be encouraging her to dig up a different study that supports her point of view.

All I did was point to a single relevant statistic in the BBC’s story: Connecticut has only killed one prisoner in the past fifty-one years. That, combined with the fact that the eleven people who are currently on death row in Connecticut won’t have their sentences commuted, means that the abolition of the death penalty will have little to no effect on the cost of corrections to the state. She and Connecticut’s taxpayers, in other words, have nothing to worry about.

I haven’t heard back, and I doubt I will, but I hope I do. Call me a glutton for punishment, but she seems like a decent person with an interest in the issue. Just because I’m totally right doesn’t mean we can’t have a decent conversation, does it?

Why not, right? My wife works hard all day, and she could use a laugh. So I grabbed a marker and wrote “Hi, Mummy!” (British for “Mommy”) on the front of my kid’s first diaper of the morning. Then I dressed her, headed off to work, and waited for my wife’s reaction.

That reaction didn’t come. No texts, no emails, nothing. By the afternoon, when I knew there was no way she hadn’t yet seen the diaper, I started to suspect that she’d respond in a different fashion.

Sure enough, when I came home from work and tagged in for dad duty, my daughter’s diaper had “Hi, Daddy!” written on it.

And so began a new ritual! I wrote an even cuter message on the front of this morning’s diaper, which I won’t share because I don’t want to make anybody puke. It was a lot more legible, too; I discovered that it’s easier to write on a diaper before you try and put it on a squirming kid.

Either way, I’m probably more excited than I should be about heading home and “checking my messages.” I’ve never played a game of chess through the mail, but it probably feels a lot like this.

Do you want to know the weirdest part? Neither of us has actually said a word about this to the other. For all I know, my baby’s actually the one who’s been writing me these messages.

“This fussy period is believed to be the baby’s way of rebooting her nervous system,” according to Gary Greenberg, the author of Be Prepared: A Practical Handbook for New Dads. Somewhere in between 5:00 PM and 8:00 PM, “a baby’s brain hits maximum capacity and goes into cry mode.” It’s an issue that affects more than 75% of babies, often making them cry for an hour or more.

“If you’re a working dad,” Greenberg writes, “unhappy hour can be particularly miserable because just as you open the door, the baby freaks out. It could start to give you a complex.”

There’s no easy solution for this issue. Sometimes, in fact, there’s no solution at all; my daughter’s had a number of evenings when she’s been utterly inconsolable. I wish I could say I’ve always handled it well and taken it in stride, but the fact is, Greenberg’s right. It does have a way of getting to you, and not just because her cries can get to be “about the same volume as a chainsaw or leaf blower.”

When I went back to work a couple of weeks ago, I left Kate to deal with the much tougher job of spending the whole day alone with a newborn. During the first few difficult days, she said she didn’t think I understood how hard she was working. But after a couple of weeks of lively days and fussy evenings, she started saying she felt sorry for me.

Thankfully, there’s no need for sympathy. For one thing, most babies grow out of the “unhappy hour” phase at twelve weeks. But more importantly, when you take a step back from the screaming, you realize what a small portion of your day it actually fills.

My daughter’s all smiles in the morning. She’s terrific on weekends. Kate takes the time to send me photos during the day, while I’m at the office. I’d love to be able to spend more time with her, but the time I do get to spend with her is great. A little crying on the side is only fair, don’t you think?

Speaking of which, does anybody know how to bookmark a reassuring blog post on your phone, so you can read it in the dark with your free hand the next time it seems like your daughter’s never going to stop screaming ever again?

The banquet will be held on Saturday, 12 May 2012 at 6:00 PM at the Holiday Inn Yorkdale. For more information, drop me a line and I’ll put you in touch with Paul. I’m told they’re already looking at a few leads, and they may well have found a DJ by the time you’ve read this, but I’d still love to put him in touch with some DJs and help make sure the job gets done.

The CEWHA is “a floor hockey league for people with disabilities who have limited upper body strength and/or mobility who could significantly benefit from the use of an electric wheelchair in competitive sport and daily living.” They’re a terrific organization doing great work, and I invite you to visit their website for more information. You can also contact the league to learn more about volunteer opportunities, or make a donation through CanadaHelps.org.

You can check it out tonight at its new home, Parts and Labour. There’s no cover charge until 11:30 PM, and you can definitely expect a crowd by then, so it’ll be a good idea to get there early. That’s what I’ll be doing, assuming the little one lets me out tonight.

Visit the event listing on Facebook for details, and be sure to stay tuned for the Yo! Jamz site for the latest news on plenty of great nights to come.

But before all the books and the Ted Talks, Neil got the ball rolling with a celebrated blog called 1000 Awesome Things. Tonight in Toronto, he’ll mark the end of the blog’s four-year run.

Chapters is hosting the celebratory event tonight at 7:00 PM at its John and Richmond location. Join Neil as he bids farewell to his blog – and finally reveals the number one awesome thing.

Congratulations to Neil on his enormous success! I know it’s a cliché, but it couldn’t have happened to a nicer and more deserving fellow. Check out the event listing on Facebook for details on the event, and be sure to visit the blog if you haven’t already done so. You’ll be glad you did.

From this point forward, I’m planning on posting daily. You can visit What’s Matt Been Drinking? for news and ideas from the vibrant world of alcohol, along with a “drink by drink” account of my own personal intake. Tomorrow, for example, you’ll get to read the exciting tale of what I’m drinking right now (hint: not much, because I’m exhausted, and also it’s Monday).

You can subscribe to the feed if you want to be kept up to date on new content, or you can follow me on Twitter for links and such. Do feel free to share your thoughts and ideas in the comments, too.

In the meantime, you know what else? No more promises and deadlines about potential new projects, unless I’ve got a solid chance of following through. No more talk about launch dates until the thing in question is actually ready for launch. I mean, what the hell happened to that podcast, for example? Is that thing going to happen, or what?

I’ve always been fairly good at wringing a little extra time from every day and putting it to good use. I figured I could just get up, get my kid’s day started, head to work, watch her again for a few hours when I got home, and still have plenty of time for other things.

Well, during my first week back, that wasn’t the case. By the time I put my daughter to bed each night, I was having trouble keeping my own eyes open. So was my wife, who had actually spent the whole day with her.

Obviously, some changes are in order. Kate and I have been thinking of ways to support each other, but I’m also trying to find better ways to look after myself. An obvious solution would be to sleep whenever I’m tired, but at the moment, that wouldn’t leave much time for anything else in my life beyond my job and family.

Thankfully, I think I made some good use of my weekend. I got some rest, of course, but I also got the jump on a number of things I hope to do this week. I looked after the kid on Friday night so Kate could go out to Comedy Bar, and she did the same for me on Saturday so I could go out to Everyone’s a DJ. I also did a bunch of cooking, which isn’t something I often do, but it’s turning out to be a good way to relax on the one hand, and prepare for the week ahead on the other.

My wife and I are both adjusting to new and different routines, and I think it’s going to take a lot of fine-tuning. We’re not going to find a peaceful and successful rhythm right away, but I think we’re slowly getting there.

Have you ever found yourself in a similar situation? How did you get on top of your routine? What small changes made a big difference? Feel free to share your thoughts and ideas.

“No,” I smiled. “She fed half an hour ago. She just doesn’t like sitting still in long lines. Thank you, though.”

I’m new to this parenting thing, and when it comes to good advice, I’m all ears. I may not be the type to call for censorship, or to shelter my kid from different lifestyles, but I still believe it takes a village to raise a child. I’ve been grateful for the support and encouragement I’ve gotten from random parents, and especially from fellow dads.

But there’s a certain demographic – for lack of a better name, let’s call it “every older woman in my neighbourhood” – who sees a crying baby in the company of a man and thinks “This guy’s in over his head.”

“Did you bring a bottle with you?” this particular woman insisted.

“Nope,” I said. “She fed half an hour ago, ma’am. She’s not hungry.”

“Okay, she shrugged, with a little bit too much “if you say so” for my liking.

I appreciated her concern, don’t get me wrong. Besides, as intrusive strangers go, she was pretty tame. Consider, for example, the woman who heard my kid crying a few weeks ago at the exact same drug store, and helpfully told me “She needs her mum.”

The list of things I wish I’d said to that woman instead of “Thanks” is pretty long. My brother deserves all the credit for the current winner, “You’re gonna need your mum in a minute, lady.”