Curriculum Night: How my Child will learn to Become a Mid-Level Management Suck Up

September 10, 2014September 10, 2014 ~ K ~ 2 Comments

This evening I went to my daughter‘s “curriculum” night at her school. This just happens to be my last one for elementary school. Have you forgotten about curriculum night? Or maybe you are a bad parent and have never attended one before? Basically, the teacher tells you what your child will be learning over the course of the year. In the great State of Washington, goals have changed and the names of the goals have changed. We’ve had WASL goals, we’ve had Iowa tests, we’ve had critical thinking goals, MAPSAT, BS Goals, etc. The acronyms keep rolling out and the goals keep changing but it all comes down to this: we want our kids grow up with a decent brain inside their heads.

I’m all for progress and helping my child become a world thinker who is compassionate and uses critical thinking in their ever changing world of shifting paradigms while at the same time becoming a global citizen that needs to manage her own future. How about that? Is that a “mission statement” or what?

One of the new math concepts is for our students to work on the computer solving problems. Really? The teacher had a sample problem involving pizza and two kids. One kid was named Lucas. All I was thinking while she was showing us the math word problem was that Lucas was a fat pig who shouldn’t be eating 3/8 of the cheese pizza, 4/8 of the pepperoni, and ¼ of another one. That Lucas kid is going to be one fat ass kid with weight and self-esteem issues if he keeps pigging out. Poor Lucas. Did Lucas think he found the best Seattle pizza?

My other concern was that it was fairly stupid to being solving this math problem on a computer. A good old pencil and paper would be a lot quicker and easier to use. How are they going to do the math on the fly if the computer isn’t there? Hmm? Are the children of today (and tomorrow) going to be able to do math without the use of a pull down menu? Could they mix art and math together and sketch out the problem on paper with a pencil and still figure it out?

Really, all I saw was that our schools were teaching our kids to rely on a computer to create a whole bunch of extra work to solve a simple math word problem. They can make pie graphs, charts, etc. That’s great but it is a simple problem. They don’t need to make a ten page report on it that is a waste of everyone’s time. Are we creating a society of mid-level managers that make reports for the heck of it and to justify their jobs?

“I have that twenty page report on why we shouldn’t eating Twinkles!” Conclusion: Uh, because they are bad for us? Or maybe we should eat them because it helps the fitness industry keep fitness instructors employed?

Over the years, I’ve learned that you need to watch less TV, get off the worthless texting and Instagram, Facebook, social media sites, and read more nonfiction (that was a big one tonight) and classic novels. I would also add you need to get out and experience life. Take the kids to museums, road trips, ferry boat rides, hikes, walks, boat rides, and feel the wind in your face.

Don’t get me wrong; I love the internet as much as you do. All the information at your fingertips, merely a click away…it’s wonderful.

Yet, I’m just as guilty as other parents and their children in letting social media run our lives. I have a hard time disconnecting from my iPhone. I have slowed down my use of social media. I have tried to make a deliberate effort not to check my phone when I’m doing activities with the family. I try to ignore that email buzz on my phone. It is hard. Sometimes I’m good and other times I’m not.

What are your thoughts about using only computers for school work these days? Will it work?

Loon Lake Vacation: A week of our family together and we didn’t kill each other!

August 26, 2014 ~ K ~ 2 Comments

Loon Lake Vacation: A week of our family together and we didn’t kill each other!

This summer, instead of spending a week on the Oregon Coast, our family went to Loon Lake in Eastern Washington. Sure, it isn’t Southern California with Disneyland but I wanted to go somewhere to read a book, play some board games, swim, canoe, and just plain relax.

To be honest, I have never been to Loon Lake but with the handy dandy internet it appeared to be a good choice.

Where the heck is Loon Lake? Loon Lake is about 26 miles north of the city of Spokane and an easy drive north from the downtown Spokane area on U.S. Highway 395. As I said before, we have never been to Loon Lake but I did do some research on the internet, asked a few friends (who where from the Spokane area), and it turned out to be a good choice. We rented a house right on Loon Lake with the thought that we would have another family come with us. As it turned out, no one else could make it (or maybe they just didn’t want to spend a week with me?). Nevertheless, we had a nice family vacation with just the four of us.

The other bonus (of Loon Lake) was our mobile phones didn’t work (no cell signal) and we had no wi-fi/internet at the house we had rented. We were disconnected and it was very nice to be out of the loop. No Facebook, no Google searches, no email; just books to read, games to play, canoes to paddle, and a warm lake to swim in.

Our house was located on the east shore of Loon Lake so we had a sunset to admire every night. The weather was a mix of sunshine, rain, and thunderstorms. We had some awesome lightening storms a few nights while we were at Loon Lake.

The wildlife around Loon Lake is abundant. We had a bald eagle that landed on our lawn with a huge fish one morning, lots of ducks, loons, etc. The fishing is Loon Lake is supposed to be very good as well. They stock it with silver salmon in the spring and our neighbor mentioned several other kinds of fish. I’m not much of a fisherman, so I didn’t pay too much attention to the list of fish mentioned.

One drawback to our vacation house was the lake was a bit shallow off our beach and dock area. You could swim but it took a while for you to get to a deep enough spot to swim. It was only five feet deep 50-75 yards off our beach and it was very mucky (if you put your feet down and tried to touch the bottom). If we come back to Loon Lake, I would like to have a vacation house with a beach with a steeper slope and less muck off the beach.

We brought a canoe and this allowed us to paddle out to a swim dock (that one of our neighbors had anchored in deeper water). We had a great time jumping off the float and swimming in the deeper water. In August, the Loon Lake water is very clear and warm. It was warm enough that I wish I had brought along my snorkel gear; I’m sure I would have enjoyed myself for a few hours swimming around.

Loon Lake is a fairly large lake at 1,100 acres. It is about 2 miles long and 1 mile wide with a depth of 100 feet at its deepest point. You will see jet skis and water ski boats driving around, but it wasn’t too busy during the week we stayed. I wasn’t annoyed by the noise and most of the time; you can’t hear a ski boat on the other side of the lake. I’m not sure that Loon Lake has a public boat launch or a public beach. Perhaps the lack of a public boat launch keeps the crazy boaters off the lake?

If we come back to Loon Lake next summer, we will most likely come a week or two earlier in the month of August and look for a smaller cabin/house if it just the four of us again. The house was too large for us. We will look for a smaller house, maybe one with a hot tub. We would also be nice to have a water ski boat (but I haven’t been waterskiing for about 18 years or longer). Or some loud jet skis! So if you have either, you are already invited for next summer’s Loon Lake vacation.

Boy Scout Camp: Camp Meriwether – The Camp of Broken Dreams, Tears, and Crybaby Hill

August 25, 2014August 25, 2014 ~ K ~ 2 Comments

Boy Scout Camp: Camp Meriwether

In June, I took over as Scoutmaster for my son’s Boy Scout troop. This was my first Boy Scout camp where I was in charge as the head Scoutmaster. In year’s past, I have always been the Assistant Scoutmaster; not the guy in charge. I’m happy to report that this year things went smoothly at summer camp. No major issues to report. The new First Year Scouts (that have recently joined our troop) weren’t too homesick and our older scouts weren’t too much of trouble makers this year. No fires to report; no hazing; only one scout who wandered off in the middle of the night; and only one disrespectful scout (who won’t be coming back) because as I told him “There is a new sheriff in town.”

We had 19 scouts and 6 adults attend Camp Meriwether (located on the Oregon Coast near Tillamook) this summer. It was nice to go back to the same Boy Scout summer camp again this summer. Again, we were luckily enough to have a great campsite with a beautiful view of the Pacific Ocean. It is quite a bonus to wake up and see the surf crashing on the beautiful sand beach each morning.

Boy Scout summer camp is in no way a picnic. It is fun but it isn’t a vacation. A vacation would entail me actually relaxing, sleeping in a comfortable bed, drinking a nice bottle of beer (or scotch) and having some really good food. In reality, Boy Scout camp is me having to walk at least five minutes to a flush toilet, ten minutes to a hot shower, and waking up every morning at 6 am. Not exactly my ideal vacation. I also have to supervise 19 Boy Scouts who are mostly teenagers or pre-teens. Imagine herding cats and you now know what Boy Scout camp is like.

Some of the Boy Scouts are good; some are misdirected. They are typical teenagers. They want to sleep in (but they can’t). They stay up too late. Their nerves on at their last shreds of working and they begin to annoy each other. They don’t take enough showers. Some scouts like to take two showers a day while others don’t shower for the whole week. Throw four boys into a cabin and it looks like the room was tossed by some overzealous vice cops on a drug bust; the cabin is just plain awful. God knows if they actually brush their teeth or not. Wash their hands? One can only hope.

On the plus side, we had great weather with mostly sunshine and no rain. The food isn’t bad but I wouldn’t eat it long term. To be fair, Camp Meriwether has the best food I have experienced at a Boy Scout camp. Overall, the Scouts (and the adults) had a positive experience.

Day 5: Dad & Daughter Roller Coaster Adventure Trip

April 19, 2014 ~ K ~ 3 Comments

Day 5 Knott’s Berry Farm: Danger and Excitement in the streets of Buena Park!
If you have the time, hit the “like” button and help keep my fragile ego intact…thanks.
Of all my trips to Southern California, I have never been to Knott’s Berry Farm until this past February trip with my daughter on our Dad and Daughter Roller Coaster Adventure Trip. I was really looking forward to visiting Knott’s because it was another unknown roller coaster destination for us. We have been to Disneyland, Sea World, Universal Studios, LEGOLAND, but Knott’s was a new park with new rides for us. Nothing like trying something new, right?

I was warned that Buena Park is a bit of a ghetto. It turned out to be fine. No knife fights, no gun battles as I parked my rental car. I was a little bit disappointed since a few friends had hyped up the danger factor.

As I have written before (for those of you that actually pretend to read my blog), my daughter (age 11) is the only one in my family that enjoys the roller coaster and thrill rides so many amusement parks offer. She does rides that would have freaked me out at her age if I were here. I guess I’m glad I’m not 11 again. She also sings and acts in the school play, so in reality she is a lot braver than me at age 11.
There are certain pros and cons with doing this trip in February during my daughter’s Mid-Winter Break (week long break). Pro: We get out of the rain, doom and gloom, and gray skies of Seattle for the sunshine of southern California. Con: The amusement parks are on limited hours and limited operating days. For example, Knott’s Berry Farm was open all week but hours were 10 am to 6 pm. Pro: Knott’s had a special half price admission for Breast Cancer. Another Pro: Short lines for the rides; not crowded at all.

The one long wait we encountered was for Knott’s Ghostrider wooden roller coaster. I’m not the biggest fan of wooden coasters and if I had a choice between wooden and metal, I’d go with metal hands down. However, we had to do Ghostrider since we were at Knott’s Berry Farm and it did not disappoint. That sucker is one fast roller coaster and from their website, you hit 3.14 G-force on that baby. We did have to wait about 35-45 minutes and I lost my hat (from Anderson Island) but it was fun.
In hindsight, we did Ghostrider right when the park opened and that is probably why the line was so long. We should have waited and gone to something else, let the line die down, and then double back to it. The rest of the time, all the wait times were 3-7 minutes. We often would go on a ride, have a great time, and then do the ride over again since we were right there. It was truly wonderful not to have to stand in line for hours to ride a two minute thrill ride. This is how I wish it was like every time I went to an amusement park.
We also managed to have our traditional ice cream lunch. This whole vacation was “chocolate mint ice cream” for lunch. Oops. Bad Parenting but who cares? It’s a vacation!
Another upside to vacation: No one really annoyed me at all during my vacation trip. Isn’t that amazing? Knott’s Berry Farm turned out to be a great value for the money spent: short lines and great rides. I do recommend you visit it. I suspect in the summer it will be a mad house.
Thanks again for wasting your time reading my worthless advice blog. As always your comments are needed so my fragile ego can stay intact and I can live in a state of bliss.

Chocolate Chip Mint Ice Cream for lunch...because I'm a great parent. — Chocolate Chip Mint Ice Cream for lunch…because I’m a great parent.

Daughter Roller Coaster Trip Day 4: City of Ventura, Calabasas, and Santa Monica Pier

April 18, 2014April 19, 2014 ~ K ~ Leave a comment

Roller Coaster Trip Day 4

Day 4 of our Roller Coaster Adventure Trip was spent sleeping in (until 8 am) and relaxing. Even in vacation mode, I don’t sleep in. Sleeping in until 8 am is a big deal for me. Please keep in mind, we hit two amusement parks in two days and needed a bit of a break from our adventures in California. Instead of a roller coaster amusement park on Tuesday, we went to the beach in the City of Ventura, had ice cream for lunch, and then met up with my old college friend Julie and her twin three year old sons in Calabasas, California.

Even in California, people love the Seattle Seahawks.

This is the first time we have had a chance to meet her twin sons. She is married to my other friend Chris who happened to be out of town working. I’m pretty sure he planned to be out of town on purpose. Chris likes to mess with my head that way.

I do miss that age of youth and discovery with three year old kids. Julie thought that was amusing because sometimes her boys drive her nuts. But honestly, what kids don’t drive their parents a little bit nuts once in a while. My kids drive me nuts all the time. The dog and cat drive me nuts. Heck, I think you have figure out by now that everyone and everything drives me nuts. But I love people, really, I do love them.

Time flies by and it was fun to have a glimpse of the past (when my kids were younger) and I enjoy the three year old twins. We had a great time with Duplos. I discover that I am by far still a lot better at building than some twin crazy three old boys. Ah ha! Old age wins again!

Now, you know what doesn’t drive me nuts? This whole Dad and Daughter Roller Coaster Trip! One of my clients mentioned he did a Dad and Daughter trip and had an awesome time with his daughter to Disneyland. It inspired me to do this trip. I was delighted that I could take my daughter (the only one that really enjoys roller coasters and scary rides) on this trip. I finally had someone in my family that wanted to do the rides with me! I’m selfishly happy she is now 11 years old and likes to ride the scary rides. Roller coasters all the way, everyday!

On a brief side note: She has always loved those scary amusement rides since she was a little toddler. For the past two summers, as a family we have gone to Silverwood Amusement Park in Idaho, and she is my thrill ride partner. Silverwood is very affordable and well worth the visit to Idaho if you have the time, that’s my worthless advice for northwest amusement parks.

Ok, back to California and our roller coaster adventure. Julie and I and figured out earlier that we wanted to go to Santa Monica Pier and have dinner down there. We rode the Ferris wheel with the kids, spent some time in the arcade, and had a great pizza dinner. We had a great time (well, at least I had an awesome time!). I forgot how much I miss my friends that have moved out of Washington State. This dinner and catch up session was well worth the flight to California. Plus anytime I can tell other parents how to be a better parent (because I’m an awesome parent role model and everyone wants to learn from the master of worthless parenting advice…..that’s me by the way).

The twins...one is a bit of a worse driver than the other one. — The twins…one is a bit of a worse driver than the other one.

I liked Paradise Park on Santa Monica Pier. Besides it being a bit windy and cold that evening, the Santa Monica Pier was fun to visit. It has a small amusement ride area, a boardwalk with shops, an arcade, and some food booths. It only has a few homeless people to bother you as you walk around; not too different from over beach towns we have been too. Nothing like the warmth of Southern California to keep you in a reality check of everyday life, am I not speaking the truth?

Overall, Day 4 was a great day to relax and catch our breath. Day 5: Knott’s Berry Farm!

Thanks for reading and pretending to care.

Artwork by the twins….

A drawing by Erb boys. Thank goodness they got the hair on the side of my head correct!

Winthorp, WA: Land of Sun!

April 6, 2014 ~ K ~ 3 Comments

Sure, it is Sunday and sunny here in Winthorp but it isn’t blazing hot. We have blue skies and temperatures in the upper 50’s and low 60’s. For people from the Seattle area, blue skies is great and something we treasure. I’m a sucker for blue skies, what can I say?

Winthorp is a cute little town on Highway 20. The pass is closed for the winter and won’t open until May. We took the long way here but it was a fun drive. We even stopped at WalMart in Wenatchee. Sadly, I left my phone in the car and I wasn’t able to photograph the people of WalMart for you. Seriously, I wasn’t disappointed when we got in there. My wife had to tell me to stop staring at the mom with tattoos and inappropriate short jean shorts that were way too tight. I know her son will grown up to be so proud of his mom one day!

Getting back to Winthorp, the Mrs. Worthless Advice and I are hanging out here for a long weekend. The town of Winthorp is a little sleepy this time of year but for us, we just needed a nice break and this is perfect. We have a good little two bedroom cabin on the Chewuch River at the River’s Edge Resort. The deck overlooks the river and features a refreshing hot tub. And it is sunny (have I mentioned that??)

I’ll write more later, in the meantime have a great Sunday!

Dad & Daughter Roller Coaster Trip Day 3: Magic Mountain

March 19, 2014March 19, 2014 ~ K ~ 2 Comments

X2 roller coaster - Flickr photo — X2 roller coaster – Flickr photo

You knew I’d milk this roller coaster trip on forever in my blog posts didn’t you? On our third day of our adventure, we bid farewell to the City of Sacramento and flew on Southwest Airlines to Burbank Airport in the Los Angeles area. I do like flying into the smaller airports because it is easier to get in and out in a timely manner. Both Alaska Airlines and Southwest Airlines flew into Burbank Airport so this worked out well for us since our return flight back to Seattle was departing from Burbank.When I was planning this trip, I wanted to fly in as close as I could to Six Flag’s Magic Mountain Park and Burbank was the closest major airport for me. My original plan was to fly into Sacramento, rent a car, visit friends in the Sacramento area, do the Six Flag’s Discovery Park, and then drive to Magic Mountain. That plan fell apart when the cheapest rate I could find on any rental car website or kayak or hotwire or anything was close to $800 for a short five or six day rental. It was expensive due to the fact I was picking the rental car up in one city and returning it in another. My original plan also produced a lot more driving and car time that we wanted to do. We are vacation for the rides not to be taken for a ride by the rental car companies.

We used Fox Rent a Car which had some terrible reviews online but we fine for us. It was a short ride from the airport to the rental car company base. We got a sporty little four door Mazda 2 with only 500 miles on it. Not a bad little car for the two of us. I thought about having my daughter drive it but considering she is only 11 years old and it would be her first time in LA traffic, I decided against it.

Now, when you are visiting amusement parks in February Six Flag’s system of parks might not be open seven days a week. So our only window to visit Magic Mountain was on Monday February 17 (President’s Day). The park hours are limited as well from 10:30 am to 6 pm and the water rides are usually shut down.

Since we had purchased season passes at Discovery Kingdom the day before, we merely had to park our car for the outrageous sum of $20 and walk though the main gates of Magic Mountain without purchasing new tickets. I remember passing by Magic Mountain 20 years ago thinking I’d get to it one day. Finally, this day had come. Finally, I had a kid who wanted to ride the big scary rides. Finally, I had a roller coaster ride partner that wouldn’t wimp out on me. I was finally here.

To be honest, I like coming on the off season because the lines are much shorter. The newer rides had the longest rides which ate up a lot of our time. X2 is the latest redesigned ride and it was awesome but the line took forever. When a sign says the wait will be 45 minutes, that is OK. When it turns into 75 minutes, then I get a little pissed off. We didn’t make it to the Full Throttle ride because we ran out of time and the ride looked scary long. In fact, we had to skip some rides due to running out of time and having to ration our time for the rides that we heard were awesome. However, on others we rode it three times just because we could. Goliath, Tatsu, and X2 were my favorites. I tried to look up my daughter’s favorite ride but the Magic Mountain website is down (sorry folks!).

Waiting for X2 - almost there! — Waiting for X2 – almost there!

Definitely need to have two days at Magic Mountain (even in the off season) to get to all the rides into your schedule. I can’t imagine how it is on a busy summer day with more people wandering the park, trying to get in as much as possible. The lines have to be almost impossible. We didn’t even get to the wooden roller coasters since they aren’t my favorites because we ran out of time. Personally, I like the speed and loops of steel roller coasters so skipping the wooden ones wasn’t an issue for me.

As anyways, your comments and sarcastic witty comments are welcome.

Father Daughter Roller Coaster Adverture Trip

February 25, 2014February 25, 2014 ~ K ~ 2 Comments

Last week, I took my 11 year old daughter on a nice Father-Daughter trip to California for about six days for a Roller Coaster Ride Trip. She is the only one in the family that enjoys the rollercoasters and other scary thrill rides that you find at the amusement parks. I personally like the roller coasters the most. My least favorite amusement park rides are the drop zone rides.

Sure...some of us were having fun! — Sure…some of us were having fun!

The drop zone rides are the ones that go up 100, 200, 300, whatever feet into the air and drop you. You are strapped in with a metal roll bar seat and there is no chance of falling out. That still doesn’t calm me. They hoist you in the air vertically straight up with your feet dangling. At the top, they allow you to enjoy the view for a few seconds allowing just enough time for you to tell yourself “Hey, this isn’t so bad….” Then you free fall down rapidly (it is gravity after all) and come to a fairly gentle stop at the bottom. I just don’t like them.

My second least favorite rides are swinging and/or spinning rides. They don’t scare me but they do make me sick if they go too long. I can handle the inverted rolls on a roller coaster but the swinging back and forth motion doesn’t agree with my stomach as at all.

I enjoy the roller coaster and I lean towards the thrill of the tight ride of the metal coasters. I will ride wooden coasters but I feel I’m bouncing around a little too much to be really comfortable. Don’t get me wrong; if it is a roller coaster or a thrill ride I’m up for it.

We left Saturday February 15 and flew into Sacramento. We have some friends that moved down there a few years back and it was an excellent visit with them. We drove over to Vallejo, CA and went to Six Flag’s Discovery Kingdom Theme park. Some of the exhibits were not open (like the water rides) but this was fine for us. The weather report said rain but we ended up with sunshine and pleasant temperatures in the 70s.

This park wasn’t bad and we didn’t have long crazy lines due to the time of year. I’m not too interested in the animal side of the park which didn’t appear to be running too many shows. Get out of my way; I’m here for the thrill rides. Our favorite ride at Discovery Kingdom was Medusa with the Superman ride coming in a close second. On Medusa, if you can sit in the front, it is definitely worth it. I think Superman was overall awesome and all seats are pretty enjoyable.

In my next blog, I’ll talk more about our vacation trip and bore you to tears. I’m assuming my readership will rapidly drop off and I’ll be writing an online diary to myself than a blog for the masses. At least I’ll always have my imaginary stalker Cyndi to read my blog.

Why it is OK to Scare Kids….(and other big babies)

February 11, 2014 ~ K ~ 8 Comments

Would you want to date this guy’s daughter?

Why it is OK to Scare Kids….(and other big babies)

My wife tends to disagree with me on some of my parenting theories. She thinks that I shouldn’t be the big, bad, scary and intimidating father to my daughter’s (who is age 11) friends. I, of course, disagree. I’m not mean, big, bad or scary to my daughter’s female friends…just to her little male friends.

I want those kids to fear me. I want them to know that if they mess with my little girl that they will have to deal with me. Is that really wrong? To be honest, I’m not threating them or verbally scaring them….I just look scary. That is the key…look scary. Nothing wrong with looking scary, right?

Sure, I’m a very articulate individual who enjoys a good conversation but sometimes the best thing to do is to keep your mouth shut. He who talks first, loses right? I want to be that father that is sitting in his chair when the daughter comes in with her friends and the boy just looks at me and knows he should be fearful. He should think “Hmm, I probably don’t want to upset her dad…he just looks scary.”

It isn’t like my daughter is dating so I shouldn’t worry….yet. However, why not plan for the future and lay the foundation now. The farmer doesn’t wait until the summer to plant his crops; he plants his seeds in the winter. I’m planning for the future. I’m planting the seeds of fear and respect in the minds of these 11 year old boys now so they know not to mess with me (or my daughter later). Hopefully, when they get into middle school and high school my reputation as a scary, frightening father grows into an almost unbelievable legend that will be passed down from generation to generation.

Of course, my professional as a school photographer isn’t exactly a job that scares kids. I also don’t have any tattoos, nor do I talk “ghetto” or “white trash”. The best I can do is speak Hawaiian Pidgin English from my school days on Kauai. Furthermore, it’s not like I’m from SEAL Team Six or on the SWAT team. The only scary thing about me is my bald head and the fact I practice aikido (a non-violent martial art). I suppose someone unfamiliar with it could possibly think I am a weapon of death and destruction.

Any thoughts on making myself a little bit more intimidating to the youth of today? Any worthless advice, tips, suggestions, ideas? Come on….leave a comment or two! And thanks for reading my Blog of Worthless Advice!

Quick! Too Much Information is Never Enough!

January 13, 2014 ~ K ~ 4 Comments

TMI & TMS: Too Much Information & Too Much Sharing

Did you hear about the first time mother Ruth Iorio that used Twitter and Instagram to document the birth of her first child?

It does sound like a start of joke but of course it’s not. Supposedly her photos and the Twitter feed went viral on the internet. She might not have been the first one to do it but she is the first one I’ve heard about. There has to be a couple hundred YouTube videos of births so what is the big deal?

Maybe it was a slow news day. I discovered the story when I watched a short video news report on the ABC News website. It was a simple slideshow of her photos and they never interviewed her.

I did watch her being interviewed on another news program and she just seemed to wanted to document the event with her photographer husband. Not a big deal; I know other people who have recorded the birth of their children but they didn’t tweet about it as it happened. I don’t mind learning about the birth of your child; I just don’t need all the details in (somewhat) real time. I certainly don’t need to see the photos either. A simple after the fact tweet of “It’s a boy, his name is Nye, and he was born at 2:41 pm today!” will work for me. Heck, throw in a photo of your son while you are at it.

Perhaps she just wanted to share the birth with a few of her Twitter friends and family. At first it was just them and then they just happen to share the link with another friend, then another, until it was all over the internet.

However, it has inspired me to share more. I plan to tweet about the next time I clip my toenails so you better sign up for my Twitter feed now! You don’t want to miss that!

A special “Thanks” to fellow blogger Honey Did You See That! Whom gave me the idea about TMS and TMI: Too Much Sharing and Too Much Information blog post today.

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