Play more

I like to do good things, and part of that is following through when I commit to doing them. A few weeks ago, I took the LetsPlay pledge and promised I would dedicate more hours per week to getting out there and playing. I realize that this does nothing to ease world hunger, bring peace to the middle east or save the manatees, but I believe that children are our future. And that copyright laws are lax when it comes to blogs.

So aside from throwing Lessi around the backyard (funny digression: she now throws her baby dolls around while yelling "parkour!"), I actually engaged in more active play recently, despite the fact that I just landed a new job (finally! I might add). Some highlights:

Midget Racing

Never has there been an activity where I've had to follow up with "no, it's not that at all!" more so than when I told people I was taking Fury midget racing. I know there's no running and jumping involved, but the point is we're getting out there and his heart rate increases. Also, he realizes that it's like Xbox, but a million times better.  I'll buy that for $10 a lap!  Not for too long, but the point is I'm willing to, in theory.

Certification and racing lessons are actually highly affordable, so I made the mistake of getting all excited for Fury to join the race circuit. Turns out once you're certified, you have to buy your own race car, trailer and something to tow it with (I don't think the Volvo will cut it). Hey Fury, there's this really cool game on Xbox...

Fishing

If I had to pick one activity as my hands-down favorite thing ever in the history of the world, it would be fishing. When we lived in LA, that was the most conspicuous void in my life. At our new home in Northern CA, I can fish any of a dozen places within a 20-minute drive. Heaven isn't too far away. Like I said, lax copyright laws make the blogosphere go 'round.

There's actually a nice regional park and reservoir 15 minutes away that's perfect for a  spontaneous pre-dinner trip. I've taken Fury fishing there a couple of times.

The first time we went, I had no idea what people were catching there (or even if we could catch anything at all without a boat). When we got there, these two old guys were also setting up to fish. While Fury and I caught nothing, one of the old guys caught this delicious bass:

I made Fury pose with it for a picture because you can't do that and not immediately dedicate the rest of your life to catching one like that for yourself. At least not if you share my genes.

I caught this on a business trip. Yes I bring fishing equipment on business trips.The next day, we went out again. This time, we brought his friend from across the street, who had never fished before. Also, due to the lack of rain, the shoreline had receeded about 20 yards, which meant to get to water we had to trudge through ankle-deep mud. When you're 10, mud trumps the prospect of fish. Also, dad spends all his time crawling in the mud looking for shoe that you lost after the mud pulled it off and the hole resealed itself.

You can't get mad at genuine mud-covered smiles, though.

Running

Shortly after I started working again, I decided I needed more structure in my life after so many months of improvised living. I decided to start running again. I also thought it would be nice to bring Fury along, since I leave the house for work before he gets up and return an hour before he goes to bed. This might give us some good bonding time while staying healthy. Two birds, one stone. Then I realized that both dogs would probably enjoy the exercise as well. Four birds. Then one day his buddy across the street decided that it might be fun to run with us, too. Five birds. Today, another neighbor kid joined us. This stone is like a ninja stone, killing birds as far as the eye can see. They say jogging is a sport of quiet solitude. They don't live in my neighborhood.

I guess what I'm saying is play can be pretty much anything, and no matter how busy you are, you can still squeeze it in if you put your mind to it. But if you still need more motivation, how about a 10-foot parachute, like you used to play with in gym class? I'm giving away three of these, and they each come with:

• 1 sand bucket
• 1 jump rope
• 1 carton of sidewalk chalk
• 1 "Let's Play" frisbee
• and a few cheat sheet things to kick start some play ideas

To be entered to win this stuff, I'd love it if you took the Let's Play Pledge (676 other people can't be wrong!), but you don't have to in order to win (just leaving a comment will suffice, if you want to get technical). The guilt, however, will eat at you whenever you look at that colorful parachute.

In the end, all I'm asking you to do is play more. Is that so bad?

(oh, forgot to mention... I will accept entries up until Wed, June 6, 10pm PST)

(WAIT! I meant Wed June 13! I expect you to play, not build time machines. Leave it to Zakary to point out when I AsianFAIL) 

I home business school my kid, part II

(Part 1 is here, but these two posts really have nothing to do with one another aside from the fact that it's a catchy title and I was too lazy to think up a different one.)

Fury's school does the coolest thing. A few times a year, they hold a student marketplace where kids can get their entrepreneur on and set up stalls to sell anything they want. They can peddle used items, homemade edibles, store-bought edibles, crafts, services -- pretty much anything they can think up and drag to school, except for weapons.

Which saddens me because I really wanted to pass down my handmade ninja star business to himTo provide legal tender for these activities, the school has established its own currency system. You start off the year with a set amount, and throughout the school year you can earn or spend those dollars for doing (or getting out of) chores and tasks. But what really separates the wheat from the chaff is the student marketplace. This is where fake money fortunes are made or squandered.

I learned of this recently when Fury asked "Hey, dad, I need you to help me make some Colt Cash."

I opened my mouth to say "well first you need to find an unclaimed street corner and a good supplier," but thought better of it and just said "why do you need cold cash?"

"No, Colt Cash!" And this was followed by the description I shared with you above.

Since our entire family watches the show Shark Tank religiously (it is the best show on TV), and I never pass up an opportunity to do my Mark Cuban impersonation, I proceeded to grill him on his business idea, which was this:

That's a Creeper costume from the game Minecraft. If your kid has succumbed to Minecraft, let's start a support group. No better yet, a drinking and partying group because our kids would never notice anyway.

Once we got to the "but how scalable is this? And could you get production cost to under $2 if we made it in China?" the holes in his business plan were simply too big to ignore. Plus, it might be hard to bike to school with them. So we did some brainstorming. What could we sell that would capitalize on the buying impulses of elementary school students with play money burning a hole in their pockets?

We had it. I wrote up a list of materials that he needed to go buy with mom, along with instructions on how to put it all together.

When I got home from the work the next day, the product was assembled and ready to go.

Introducing CANDYWARE, fashionable accessories made with real candy!

Of course, to hedge his bets, Fury also created two consulting companies (advertised on either side of the board above): Poptropica Island Boys, where he helps you get past some supposedly really tough island level on the Poptropica video game, and SkinTek, in which he uses a Minecraft skins app, which he bought with his own allowance, to create skins for your Minecraft characters (note the clever logo he drew up with the word Tek rolling off a conveyor belt).

When I got home from work the next day, he gave me the breakdown:

ALL 24 BRACELETS SOLD WITHIN 5 MINUTES

"And I already have orders for another batch!"

"So how much Colt Cash do you have now?"

"$45,000!"

"And how much did you start the year with?"

"$7,000... and I'm going to buy my way out of homework FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR!"

A good entrepreneur: knows how to make money. A dangerous entrepreneur: knows how to spend it wisely.

* * * *

Bonus: I also posted this week on MamaPop about what a bummer it is that fighting is now like a pop culture thing. I complain like you're on my lawn or something. It's quite lovely.

Embracing the happy in birthday

Today is Lessi's second birthday. As I look back upon memories and pictures from the past couple years, I simply smile. While fatherhood can be as complicated as you'd like to make it, it can also be about one very simple thing: finding happiness in the little things.

Like a full sippycup.

A delicious meal.

The perfect eyewear.

Star Wars.

(ok maybe not quite yet)

The wind in your hair.

Family.

Quiet contentment.

And of course, cake in the morning.

I love you. Happy birthday, little thing.

Life's Hella Good

Look closely at the picture above. To the casual observer, this may look like Nerf darts scattered across a suburban cul-de-sac. To me, they spell the word validation. Validation for a moment's notice decision to move the entire family from Los Angeles to a small town no one's ever heard of in Northern CA. Validation for my using the word hella in a post title in an attempt to adopt the vernacular of my new home (ok, maybe some things can never be validated).

When we first packed up and left, I had fears. My own migration into suburbia also happened in 4th grade. It didn't go so well. While times and racial tolerance are different now, I couldn't help but worry that I was removing Fury from everything that he ever knew and plunking him down in unfamiliar territory to fend for himself. Well, he fended for himself, alright. With Nerf guns blazing, sqeals of laughter and a gang of neighborhood homies of all colors, creeds and Axe spray varietals. They show up at all hours of the day, ravage our snacks like locusts, and make this new house a home for Fury.

And because this town was built with parks and bikepaths connecting every neighborhood, I can actually let him bike outside of our own driveway for once. In fact, I give him a cell phone and he rides for miles. I know this because he calls me and says "Dad, I am in front of [any given address]. Check Google Maps. How far have I gone?"

The only thing missing is jobs, which d Wife and I both moved here without. However, things are looking up on that front for both of us. I don't like to jinx things that help me pay my mortgage, so that's all I will say about that for now. However, not having to go to work each day means I can do things like help my buddy Toheed (who moved here from LA a year before I did, and wouldn't shut up about how awesome it was until I did too) do random things like dismantle a car wash. Lessons learned there: a rented forklift is worth every penny, and tweakers you hire off the street are excellent at unbolting lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of bolts.

The dismantled carwash is pictured above. Also, the house next to ours is empty and available in case you're looking to move to the best little town no one, not even NorCal people, have ever heard of. And no, we're not turning it into a carwash, though if that crossed your mind, you know me well.

Oh yeah, file this one under "Makes your relocation a whole hell of a lot easier to swallow": LG Electronics found me at the Dad 2.0 Summit and said (and I paraphrase): "Jim, we'd like to pimp your family room for our Techorating Challenge."

I said yes, and showed them a picture of my family room:

"Have at it," I said.

Then this happened...

And then they gave me a script, some makeup and turned my house into a film studio for 18 hours.

They also did the same thing to High Tech Dad and then pitted us against one another in a grueling fight to the finish. At least we both get to plunk down at the end of this Techorating Challenge and rehydrate in front of our 55" LG LCD 3D TVs (QRS... TUV... WXY and Z). The electronics and home decorating cockfight, hosted by ESPN's Stuart Scott, is depicted below, if you dare:

I'm showing you all this because it too can be yours. Just go to the LG Techorating Challenge Facebook page and enter to win your own Techorated room. You only have one day left to do this (procrastination would be my middle name if it weren't Ching-kuo). They close it off on Wednesday, May 2 at 11:59:59 pm EST. You have to vote for one of us, but really, it doesn't matter who you vote for. The TV and room make-over were enough for me. I don't even know what I win, if I win and it doesn't really matter.

And remember kids, a good disclosure statement gives you healthy teeth and gums and keeps your blog out of the government no-no house, so here goes:

*YO YO YO! LG or its affiliates have not kicked me over a dime for any articles or posts. They did, however hook me up with a gang of stuff, like a 55" 3D LCD TV, some classy "MTV Cribs" caliber furniture (I'm still waiting on that stripper pole, though), an LG Bluetooth Soundbar, and they even threw in a microwave just for the hell of it. All this was provided as part of the Techorator program experience. However, all articles, tweets, and other materials that I post related to LG products and the Techorator program are entirely my own opinion. In fact, everything I post is always my own opinion, which would mean that if this were North Korea, I would be making license plates with my healthy teeth.

*Mic drop. Peace in the middle east.

It's baby parkour time!

When I was in kindergarten, I jumped off the jungle gym at school and landed on my head, necessitating the only stitches I have ever gotten. My parkour career ended before the sport was even invented. What is parkour? It's the craziest, coolest, break-all-the-bones-in-your-bodiest urban jungle gym sport ever. And Lessi loves it. Of course, I have modified it slightly for our purposes (as well as child protective services).

We call it Baby Parkour, and of course I made a video of us engaging in this new version that I hope will sweep backyards and playgrounds all over the country.

I do these things because I take my role as a Play Ambassador for Let's Play very seriously. Let's Play is a partnership between Dr. Pepper Snapple Group and the non-profit KaBOOM that provides grants to communities to build or fix up playgrounds. When I was a kid, my life revolved around playgrounds, and so should every kid's, regardless of where they live.

In addition to providing playgrounds, Let's Play is committed to simply making sure that families get out there and PLAY. We're not talking math homework. We're not talking vacuuming the house. We're not talking eating our vegetables. We're not talking the proletarian struggle against bourgeoisie. We're talking good old-fashioned, down and dirty outdoor play. Not a difficult cause to be down for.

And since today is the one-year anniversary of Let's Play, all I'm asking you to do is go to their Facebook Page and take the "Let's Play Pledge" to spend 60 more minutes per week activley playing with your kids. That's it. I'm sure your kids think that's a killer idea. While you're there, you can also apply for a grant to fix up or build a playground in your neighborhood (they will give out $3 million in playground grants this year).

It's good + good + good. You know what else is wicked good? My Baby Parkour video on LetsPlay.com.

Check it out and join the LetsPlay.com community while you're at it. We're all about play. There is no better common denominator for "things we all like." Well, that I can write on this blog anyway.