There are the times we spend an afternoon at the ballpark and days where the hours just melt away while we play catch in the yard. Of course, being so involved with sports makes it difficult when your kids tell you that you have been demoted to second string too.

Last night, after the Chicago Bears ruined a perfectly good Sunday with a terrible performance, I realized that maybe sports (at least watching sports) has taken on too much significance and I might just be…a football fanatic.

Top 10 Signs You’re A Football Fanatic

• You wear the exact same clothes on game day, unless your team lost the last game.

• You believe that last loss was a result of you sitting in the wrong seat on the couch.

• You change clothes, seats, or televisions while watching a game in hopes of giving your team some mojo.

• You would rather watch the big game alone than with your friends and family.

• You have ever broken a remote control after throwing it against the wall in frustration of your team playing like crap.

• You know what the term “Mr. Irrelevant” means - and can name at least one guy that qualifies.

• You pass up tickets to the game so you can stay home and tune your fantasy football lineup, not to mention watch the other games.

• You are a grown man and have sheets or blankets from your favorite team on your bed.

• You schedule family events around game time, including the birth of your children.

• You have received a call from your neighbor - four houses down - to make sure everything is alright after they heard screaming.

Not many parents will tell you that they hope their child is having intercourse before the age of 16, or that they become pregnant before reaching the age of majority. Likewise, few parents envision their child turning into a physically aggressive adult that lead a life of violence.

So what does that have to do with television and video games?

Well, according to a study in the journal Pediatrics, there is an increased chance of teen pregnancy among children that watch television programs with risky sexual behavior by teens.

According to the study, researchers recruited adolescents aged 12 to 17 and surveyed them three times between 2001 and 2004, asking about television viewing habits, sexual behavior and pregnancy. Among 718 teenagers, there were 91 pregnancies. The adolescents who watched the most sexy television were at double the risk of becoming, or causing, a pregnancy compared to the adolescents watching the fewest such programs.

With regard to video games, another study in the journal indicates that children that play violent video games show an increase in physically aggressive behavior.

Aggressiveness in children is often associated with violence later on in life, meaning violent video games may pose a significant risk to our children. How many violent games do you think the school bully is playing?

Considering the above information, let me ask you a question.

How closely are you monitoring what your children watch and play?

Obviously there is a line that must be drawn, as there is only so much that parents can realistically do to prevent their children from playing violent video games or watching racy television programs.

Are your children permitted to have televisions in their room?

Is access to the Interweb allowed behind closed doors?

What type of video games are they playing?

Do you know what they are doing when over at a friends house?

That last one is a tricky situation, and is part of my motivation in writing this post. Like it or not, different parents have different rules when it comes to what their children can and cannot do. As a parent, it is your job to become acquainted with the parents of your child’s friends and get a feeling for where those boundaries exist in their house.

For instance, we know that one of our oldest son’s friends has very little parental supervision when it comes to the video games that are permitted. This other boy is permitted to play games that have an “M” rating.

Sorry, that doesn’t fly in our house.

Since we cannot control what takes place at a friends house, we have learned that there are some friends that are welcome to come to our house and play, but our kids will not be permitted to play at the friends house due to rules that we are not comfortable with.

Now don’t get me wrong, I am not one that believes that video games or sexual television programs are to blame for the problematic behavior of children.

Actually, I believe that the children playing these games and watching these programs have a larger problem - parents that are not involved in their lives.

Talk to your children.

Explain things to them when they have questions.

Be involved in their lives; set rules and boundaries with regard to what is acceptable.

These are the things that I believe will have a far greater impact on your child, as they will then have a better understanding of the consequences surrounding things like violent video games or television programs that push the envelope.

From time to time, I like to share a few of the tips from the calendar and how you can apply said tips to your family life, professional life, or a combination of both. While flipping through the calendar today, I found the following nugget of wisdom and wanted to share it with you.

When you encounter a detour, take it eagerly; surprises await.

Think about that for a minute.

When you encounter a detour sign, what is your initial reaction?

Often times, you likely sigh, moan, or grunt and immediately curse the decision to take this route; wondering how much this detour is going to delay your trip. But have you ever been on that detoured route and discovered a hidden gem - maybe a great restaurant, beautiful landscape, or an alternate route for when traffic is bad.

The detours don’t have to be on the road either.

We often have our careers, even our daily interactions with people, mapped out in our head. When things don’t go according to plan, do you get stressed out or do you go with the flow and see what happens?

Personally, I tend to be more the type to go with the flow and not let the detours from the plan disrupt me from having a great time. As a result, I have been fortunate to have met some truly amazing people and have had experiences that I will remember for a lifetime - all because I had to take a detour.

The next time your map, whether that be on the road, at work, or at home, gets thrown out the window due to a detour, keep an open mind and embrace the opportunity to discover something new.

You never know, the surprises that you encounter may just be exactly what you have been looking for but didn’t know where to find it.

Some might say you are a car enthusiast if you have ever opened up the hood of your car for something other than adding fluids (note, I said adding not changing). My own definition of a car enthusiast is a little more discriminating than that.

You know you’re a car enthusiast when…

• you’ve changed out your steering wheel
• you can name more than three wheel manufacturers
• you’ve added gauges to the interior of your car
• you know why you added said gauges

I think you get the idea.

Undoubtedly, many of you are shaking your heads or raising your hand - you’re a car enthusiast.

Well, have I got a cool product to show you. Earlier today, one of my blogging buddies, David Pitlyuk sent me a link to one of the coolest child car seats that I have ever seen.

That’s right - a carbon fiber car seat modeled after the well-known Sparco racing seats that many of you enthusiasts may already have in your car. Take a look at this prototype and tell me it is not one of the sweetest things you have seen.

This seat, designed by Rory Craig, is a prototype but I can see something like this being a huge hit with the car enthusiasts. Even the proposed name is a great fit - Wing Man!

Jump on over to Carbon Fiber Gear to see a few more pictures and learn a little bit more about the creation of this carbon fiber car seat.

Thanks for the heads-up Dave!

Photo courtesy of Carbon Fiber Gear

Today I’d like to offer some insight into how I created one of my favorite portfolio shots this year, ‘Baby and the Tramp’! It’s a shot of my two boys, and it came about as I was starting to put together a trampoline in the backyard. Growing up, all the trampolines I saw looked like this one. Today, they have padding around the perimeter, plus a vertical net to keep the kids from flying off. I decided to do this shot right before I put the final netting up, and some fun Photoshop tricks made it all possible.

The first question I always here is ‘Is that baby really flying in the air?’. The answer of course is ‘no’, but I always like to let people think that what they are seeing is what actually happened. While I did use some lighting gear for this shot, you can do something similar at home as long as you have a tripod. You’ll need your camera on a tripod because you take multiple shots. Here’s how the shoot went:

1. Place camera on tripod at the scene.

2. The older child (child #1) jumps up and down, and I took several shots. There were people to the left and the right, outside of camera range, making sure he didn’t fall off.

3. Because there’s a lot of motion involved, I go through the shots and make sure there’s at least one that is somewhat sharp before wrapping up.

4. Separately, I brought in child #2 and held him in the spot where he would be if he were bounced around. I did this so that he would be lit with the same lighting setup that child #1 was. Here’s a shot of that set up.

5. In Photoshop, I placed the second shot on top of the first (in a new layer), and then painted out everything except child #2. I rotated him clockwise as well. I had to paint in some of his legs and clothes, because my hands were covering them up.

6. I added a little motion blur to their bodies using the Wind filter. I masked this effect so it was mostly around their arms and feet.

7. I also painted a trampoline shadow for child #2 that looked similar to the other shadow.

Here’s a behind-the-scenes video that shows the shoot in a little more detail.

So how can you apply this? Well, if you have Photoshop and a tripod for your camera, try taking multiple shots of subjects and then compositing them in Photoshop. For example, if your kids won’t smile at the same time ever, take multiple shots and use the best ones for a picture. Obviously this technique won’t work everywhere, and things can get crazy pretty quick. But it’s one photo trick to add to your bag that allows you to create what you see in your mind, even if your subjects aren’t cooperating!

If you have specific questions, feel free to write them in the comments area and I’ll address them. Or, if you’ve done something similar, post a link here for all to enjoy!

Eric Doggett is a Austin, Texas photographer. He just relaunched his new site which includes tons of images and several behind-the-scenes videos. He also runs BoxOfficeBaby.com, a site where you can order custom birth/party announcement cards and posters - including some unique tech birth announcements. You can reach him at doggett (-at-) doggettstudios.com.

Vanessa Van Petten, the woman that started Teens Today, recently contacted me to share the news that her staff of teen writers selected The Man Page as one of the 50 Best Dad Blogs!

It is quite an honor to not only be included among this list of outstanding dad bloggers, but to have been selected by a group of teenagers that have noticed and appreciated the information being shared here is truly special.

For those that may not be familiar with Teens Today, I encourage you to check it out as it is a parenting blog written from the teen’s perspective. So many times we as parents scratch our heads wondering what our kids are thinking; with Teens Today, you have the chance to learn valuable insights directly from the teens themselves.

Vanessa and everyone at Teens Today, thank you for the honor!

One of those top five health concerns is prostate cancer, with one in six American men developing the disease and more than 28,000 men dying of the disease every year. That is why I did not hesitate to pledge my involvement in Movember.

What is Movember you ask?

Movember (the month formerly known as November) is a moustache growing charity event held during November each year that raises funds and awareness for men’s health issues. During Movember, I will be growing a Mo, much to the chagrin of my wife who is not a fan of facial hair.

As a Mo Bro, I will be spending the month growing and grooming my Mo while also helping to raise money and awareness to the fight against prostate cancer. Every time someone looks at me funny and questions the Mo, I can talk to them about prostate cancer and ask for their support.

How can you help?

Guys, you can lend your support by joining The Man Page Mo Brigade and growing your own Mo this month. Ladies, become a Mo Sista and help the guys raise awareness and money to support the fight against prostate cancer.

To join my Movember team, register online and follow the steps provided. You will need these details to complete your online registration:

• Captain’s Registration Number: 1890151
• Captain’s Email Address: me[@]dereksemmler.com

What to do if the Mo is not for you?

If you do not care to join the team and grow a Mo, you can still lend your support by making a donation to the Prostate Cancer Foundation.

To donate to my Mo you can either:

• Donate online using your credit card or PayPal account, or
• Write a check payable to the ‘Prostate Cancer Foundation’, referencing my Registration Number 1890151 and mailing it to:
  

  Prostate Cancer Foundation
  Attn: Movember
  1250 Fourth St
  Santa Monica, CA, 90401

All donations are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.

During Movember, I will have an opportunity to thank you for your support of my Mo as there will be a prize giveaway coming up that you will not want to miss. In the meantime, please provide your support by either joining my team, making a donation, or spreading the word to your family and friends.

Thanks for your support!

For more information, please visit the official Movember website.

With the gas prices coming down in recent weeks, I thought now would be a great time to try and give away enough to get you a full tank of gas! In lieu of the t-shirt and water bottle, we are stepping it up a notch and giving away a total of $200 in BP gift cards!

Being a member of the BP Invigorate Insider program has been an outstanding experience for me and now I get to share part of that with you, as BP has been gracious enough to provide me with more gift cards to give away.

The Prize

Each winner will receive the following prize:

• $50.00 BP gift card

How to Enter

Just leave a comment on this post before 11:59pm CST, November 7th, 2008 and you’re entered to win!

There will be FOUR winners.

Good luck!

This contest is now closed. Did I Win?

Prize valued at $50. Open to legal residents of the United States 18 years of age and older. No purchase required. One entry per person. Void where prohibited by law. Important contest rules and details.

What is it about getting in the car that makes many kids talk incessantly? From the moment their rear end hits the seat, their lips don’t stop moving.

Maybe you have endured a long day of work and just want to enjoy some peace and quiet. Or maybe traffic is a nightmare of cars inching along and you feel distracted. Whatever the reason, too many times we as parents lose our patience with the endless conversation and ask our kids to be quiet.

We really should embrace the “car conversation”, as I like to call it.

When driving along down the road, I have found that my kids will initiate some extremely interesting conversations. Interesting in the sense that they often bounce around from one thing to another, with some bizarre topics usually thrown in for good measure.

The thing that I love about the “car conversation” is how my kids feel so free to talk about whatever is on their mind. They will ask questions that leave me scratching my head trying to figure out what they mean. Sometimes they will make comments that make me laugh and cry all at the same time, like when we were passing a cemetery and my youngest said, “Dad, I want to get you a stone in a place like that.”

As you are driving along, be sure to pay attention when they aren’t talking to you but talking to a friend or sibling next to them. Do your best to stifle any laughs though, as once they realize that you are listening they will stop that conversation and start peppering you with questions again.

The next time you find yourself in the car with your kids, take a moment to embrace the “car conversation” and cherish the time while you have it. To help kick-start a conversation, here are a few questions that you can use to get your kids talking:

• What is the silliest thing you could ever do?
• If you could be an animal, what would you be and why?
• What would it be like to live on the moon?
• If 7-11 is open 24 hours, why do they have locks on the doors?

Shortly after you read this post, I will be putting this into practice as we drive home from Disney World and have hour after hour of car conversations. While there are certainly times that I would prefer some peace and quiet, I have learned to embrace the car conversation as I know it won’t be long and the back seat will be empty.

Photo courtesy of Alex Barth

Making dinner can be easy, fun, and impressive. I’ll share one of my favorite recipes that even the most kitchen inept can’t mess up, then I’ll follow that up with how to set up the evening. A big part of impressing the wife is not only putting food on the table, but doing it in a way that sets the right mood. Let me know how it goes!

In addition to the recipe below, you’ll need the following things:

• cloth napkins
• non-scented candles
• matches

Black Bean, Avocado & Salsa Dip

• 1 Can of Black Beans (make sure the ingredients only say beans, water, salt)
• 1 Large Avocado (buy organic, or barring that, find one that is deep purple in color & tender to the touch)
• 1 8 oz container of Pico De Gallo or other fresh salsa
• 2 Limes
• 1 Tablespoon Cumin (more or less to taste)
• 2 - 3 cloves fresh garlic
• 1 Large bag of tortilla chips

Heat the beans in a medium saucepan over medium heat. While the beans are heating, mince the garlic and add that to the beans with the cumin. Once the beans are bubbling, reduce heat to warm.

Cut the avocado out of the shell. The easiest way to do that is by following the steps in this video:

Now that you’re done laughing at the word testicle, let’s move on.

Cut the limes in half and squeeze the juice into the bowl that you have placed the avocado in. Add the Pico de Gallo, and with the back of a fork, mix the pico and the avocado pieces, smashing the avocado. This gives you a nice, chunky guacamole dip.

Remove the beans from the burner and pour into a medium sized serving bowl. With a potato masher or the back of a fork, smash the beans into a chunky paste.

Set the table with chairs placed close to each other, within easy reach of where you’ll place the food. Put a plate at each chair, along with a cloth napkin. Place the bean dip and guacamole on the table in their respective bowls, and pour a whole bunch of chips into a large bowl next to the dip. Put small serving spoons in each bowl of dip.

Next, place your candle holders and candles on the table, just at the edge of the food. Light the candles and you’ve got a candle-light dinner for two - that was easy!

Bonus points:

• Finish the food in time to clean up everything but the serving dishes.

• Have chocolates & your favorite relaxing beverage chilled and ready in the bedroom along with another set of candles.

As a mother of three, working with her husband and living in New Orleans, Andrea Miles has quite a few interesting stories that she shares at According to Andrea.

My daughter Celina is my first born child. She is 11 years old. She is absolutely beautiful and very smart. I love her to death but she makes me insane.

You may laugh now but all of you readers who have or has had an 11 yr old girl know what I am talking about. I am not here to discuss on how many different ways (over 1 million) my daughter drives me cookoo, I am here to share my “plan” on how I intend to raise Celina to be a confident, assertive young woman. (The word plan is in quotation cause everyone knows things don’t always go as planned.)

Encouragement and Praise

I believe for Celina, she loves it when I show her praise for all the hard work she has done. May it be a test grade, a hard book she has read, or maybe even something simple as making her brothers a snack to eat. I ALWAYS ALWAYS tell her that she did a great job. It is important because it will build her self-esteem to know that I recognize the hard work she has put forth.

Celina is not the one to go out and try something new. So when she does do something out of character, I encourage her to be brave and explore whatever it is. For example, a new girl about her age had moved in a couple homes down while she was at her father’s for summer vacation. I knew immediately that they would be great friends. She was shy at first but with a bit of encouragement from my husband and I, she befriended the little girl and now are the bestest of friends.

I also encourage Celina to try out different hairstyles or clothes styles. She has always worn her hair down and it gets all messy and knotted up. When she shows me a hairstyle that she made up, I make sure I remark about how pretty she looks and how wonderful it is that she tried out something new! I always encourage her to try out something new, at least once.

Positive Reinforcement As Discipline

Now, I am not saying I don’t use punishment such as grounding, taking away phone, etc. I am saying I try and reward her when she is being good and displaying a good role model example. Examples are helping cleaning up after dinner, setting up the dinner table, emptying out the dishwasher, or washing her clothes without me having to hound her about it.

For the time being, these don’t happen quite often. LOL So when it does show, I make a big deal out of it. I reward her with something like an extra 30 minutes of computer time, letting her best friend eat over for dinner, or maybe something like going out to a movie.

There are times when I will use punishment. These are simple things like taking the phone away, no computer time, or no dessert after dinner. She throws a big fit about it when I do punish her. But I know in my mind that if I don’t set an example, she will never learn from her mistakes. The biggest rule in disciplining in my book, is ALWAYS FOLLOW THROUGH no matter what. Once I set the punishment, I do not back down from it. I want my daughter to see me, as a woman, to be strong and solid not wishy washy and someone that can be pushed over.

For this installment of photography tips, let’s talk about getting down.

One clear sign of a new photographer is in how they angle their shots. It’s very easy to stand and take pictures, keeping the camera at the same height and (possibly) bending at the waist. This makes for a pretty boring photo, but with a little movement on your part (something which is probably doctor-prescribed anyways) you can get something much better.

Start by getting on the same level as your kids. Not mentally, of course, because you’ve already been there most of the day trying to get them to eat their meals by playing ‘choo-choo train’ with a fork. But rather, physically. Get on the ground and shoot up at them. This angle change will add a different quality to your images. By shooting up at them from the ground, you can make them look larger than life (which, up to this point, only their dirty diapers have indicated). Or, get on your knees and shoot their face at their level. This way, they aren’t looking up at you and contorting their neck, but instead you capture them the way they are naturally.

Another idea is to have your child roll in the grass for several feet, with you in front of them, rolling along with them, taking pictures the whole time. It’s fun to get different angles of them rolling around; you’ll get something unexpected when you roll with them!

Eric Doggett is a photographer in Austin, Texas. He has a site specifically for baby photography tips at ShootTheBaby.com, as well as BoxOfficeBaby.com, a site where you can order custom birth/party announcement cards and posters - including some unique tech birth announcements. You can reach him at babydaddy -at- ShootTheBaby.com.

While I agree with her, I do think there is some validity to having access to work. Is it possible that taking your work with you on vacation helps your work life balance?

Before you cast this idea off as rationale (an excuse) to stay connected to your Crackberry, as my wife likes to call it, give it some thought.

The last time that you took a vacation, what was waiting for you when you returned to the office?

If your work is anything like mine, you likely had a stack of issues on your desk that needed immediate attention. In an effort to dig your way out of the backlog of work, you end up working overtime - thus defeating the original intent of getting away for a vacation.

Wouldn’t it be better to spend 5 or 10 minutes of otherwise down time on your vacation dealing with some of those issues?

It sounds good to me.

Obviously, one needs to be careful as technology can hurt your work life balance just as easily as it can help. However, with proper moderation, you might find yourself returning from vacation knowing that there aren’t any fires waiting to be extinguished at the office.

So, while I plan to pack my laptop and Blackberry for my upcoming vacation, I will be limiting their usage such that it does not take away from our family time.

There will be no need to log in to write blog posts, as I am working on lining up guest authors. There will be no need to log in to moderate comments, as this time I am not running a contest during my vacation (I recommend avoiding that).

When the family has crashed for the night, I don’t see anything wrong with answering a few email messages. When the kids are riding Space Mountain for the 44th consecutive time and I am trying to hold down lunch, I don’t see anything wrong with returning a few phone calls.

What do you think - should you take work on vacation or let it pile up until you return?

That is how I often feel about business travel - I am always ready and willing to take a business trip, although I have yet to redeem any rewards for personal travel.

5 Things I Love About Business Travel

As we discussed the other day, there are certainly things to dislike about business travel but there are also plenty of things to love.

1. Traveling to new destinations.

Having an opportunity to visit new parts of the country, or world, without having to pay out of your own pocket is hard to beat. While most business travel will not allow for much time to truly explore your destination, you should be able to experience some of the attractions.

Depending on your company policies, you may even be able to extend your stay by a day or two beyond the purpose of trip. Demonstrate how much money the company can save on airfare by arriving a day or two early and you might just find yourself with some time to explore.

Lately my travel has been focused on business conferences, which means that most of my trips have been to either Orlando or Las Vegas. While those are certainly fun destinations, I’d enjoy a bit more variety - which is why I am really hoping that the need to visit my colleagues in Japan comes sooner rather than later.

2. Indulging in fine seafood.

When talking about the things that I hate about business travel, I mentioned that eating out can become a nuisance. However, I can usually get by a few days simply by indulging in some of the foods that I don’t often eat at home.

My wife and kids are quite the picky eaters, which means I rarely find myself at a nice seafood restaurant and we never have seafood at home. Therefore one of the first things that I typically do when traveling for business is seek out recommendations for a great seafood restaurant.

Hopefully your company has a generous allowance for meals as eating at some of the nicer restaurants can be quite expensive.

3. Escape from the monotony of the office.

Whether you are traveling for a conference, meeting with a client, or simply meeting with colleagues in another office, getting away from the office can do wonders for your attitude.

The day to day happenings at the office can become quite monotonous, leaving you feeling drained at the end of the day as you deal with office politics. When you are out of the office for a few days, you will come back feeling fresh and recharged. It is amazing how even a small break from the routine can leave you energized.

Even though I might not be traveling, I firmly believe that my flexible work arrangement with one day off per week has helped me in that regard.

4. Getting a break from the demands at home.

As much as I love spending time with the family, sometimes you need a break from everything. It is hard to come home from a day at work, crack open a cold beer, and plop down on the couch for awhile when the kids need help with their homework or want to play with you outside.

When you are away on business, there is nobody to answer to when the day is over. If you want to head back to the hotel and have a beer while lounging around in your underwear, there is nobody to stop you (unless you are doing that in the hotel bar). Feel like vegging out in front of the TV for awhile, no problem. Feel like going down to the pub to shoot pool, no problem.

Enjoy your time away from home, as once you get back you will need to jump right back in and give your spouse a break as well.

5. Peace and quiet.

Some people do not enjoy being alone. Personally, I love it and look forward to time when I can simply sit and enjoy the peace and quiet. No distractions, nothing but my thoughts. With two growing boys at home, there are not many opportunities for this type of peace and quiet.

When I am away on business, I like to begin and end each day by simply sitting somewhere and letting my mind wander. While visiting Miami last month, I had an amazing view of the ocean from my balcony and enjoyed the time just sitting outside, watching the waves crash in on the beach. The following week when I was in Vegas, I would wake each morning and just sit for awhile as I looked out over the mountains.

What about you?

You have learned about the things that I love about business travel as well as the things that I hate about business travel. Do any of the items above make your list of reasons that you enjoy traveling? I’d like to hear what things you love the most about business travel.

In the very near future, I will be traveling again although this time it will be with my family as we head off for a much needed vacation to Disney World. As we prepare for that adventure, I had to pause and think about the differences between traveling with my family and traveling solo for business.

5 Things I Hate About Business Travel

Initially, many people think a solo trip for business is nothing but good times. While I will admit that there are things that I love about business travel, there are also things that are not very enjoyable.

1. Missing out on family time.

One of the most important things in my life is spending time with my family. Whether it be spending an afternoon at the ballpark or something as simple as reading bedtime stories, family time is something that I truly cherish.

When there are hundreds, if not thousands, of miles between you and your family, spending time together is clearly a challenge. As noted in these 5 tips to stay in touch while traveling, there are things you can do to ease the physical separation and still share some special time. However, there really is no substitute for being with your family and doing things together.

2. Sleeping alone.

Don’t get me wrong, sleeping alone isn’t all bad as it can be nice to stretch out in a comfortable king size bed without someone elbowing you in the back or stealing all of the blankets. The first night or two might seem like complete bliss.

But then you start to miss the warmth of your spouse lying next to you in bed, rolling over and wrapping your arms around one another. Waking up in the morning and not seeing your special someone curled up in the bed leaves you feeling a little lonely.

After an extended business trip, having an arm smack you in the head or waking in the middle of the night shivering without any covers never felt so good.

3. Packing the suitcase.

Part of this is likely a result of infrequent travel, as I know that there are people out there that can pack a month of clothing into a toiletry bag, but I think that packing a suitcase is one of the most difficult things to do.

First, I always try to fit my things in one of those small, trendy suitcases that you can easily tuck away in the carry-on compartments on the airplane. Yeah, that never works. Being a big guy, I put one pair of pants, socks, and underwear in one of those suitcases and I am lucky to get the thing closed!

Resigned to using my gigantic suitcase, I am then faced with the realization that no matter how I pack my items in the suitcase, everything will be a wrinkled mess once I arrive at my destination. Packing the suitcase is something that I despise about travel, so much that I have given serious consideration to packing nothing and buying all new clothes upon arrival.

4. Flying.

Generally speaking, I really enjoy flying. However, there are a few things that turn me off about flying and one of my biggest complaints is being stuck in the middle seat on the airplane.

On some airlines you have a good shot of securing an aisle or window seat, although my preferred airline, Southwest Airlines, using an open seating policy. Unless you check-in as early as possible, chances are you might get stuck in the middle seat. If you’re lucky, the person in the window seat will only ask you to let them out a half dozen times over the course of the flight.

In addition to my aversion for the middle seat, I find that the flight always leaves me congested and miserable. My ears are plugged, I cannot breathe through my nose at all. Ugh! Now this might be a symptom of not traveling very often, as I found my recent trips were not so bad, but it is something that I do not look forward to when flying.

5. Eating out.

Neither my wife or I are gourmet cooks by any means, but we can both prepare a pretty good home-cooked meal. When traveling for business, you will be eating out at restaurants (or the hotel) for every meal. Just like sleeping alone, initially this sounds enticing but it can quickly become old as you long for burnt meatloaf and mashed potatoes.

Also, depending on the nature of your travel, you may find yourself eating your meals alone. While this isn’t really a big deal, it can feel somewhat awkward if you are not accustomed to it.

What about you?

Whether you are a regular at the local airport or only travel a couple of times per year, I’d love to hear what things you dislike the most about business travel.

Turn the other cheek.

Walk away.

Don’t stoop to their level.

The above statements are often offered as advice on how a child should deal with a bully at school.

Unfortunately, many school bullies are not thwarted by any of these actions and sometimes will continue to escalate their behavior to illicit a response from the child being bullied.

Over the last few weeks, my wife and I have experienced this first-hand as our oldest son has been dealing with a bully at school.

Our son was being pushed.

Our son was being called names and teased.

Our son was being punched in the back.

Our son was being pinched to the point that he came home with bruises.

Now our son is not a small boy. He is a pretty big kid and has learned to handle himself fairly well. Not too long ago, he achieved his purple belt in Kajukenbo and had been progressing towards his blue belt when the instructor changed and he lost interest in the program.

Basically, he can take care of himself but has an easy-going demeanor and tries to be friendly with everyone.

All along, he was being respectful of the bully and turning the other cheek while my wife and I communicated our concerns to the school. First the teacher and then the principal. Initially, we asked our son to do his best in avoiding the bully but that proved difficult since they are in the same class.

We had a meeting with the principal after our initial communications appeared to fall on deaf ears.

The school responded by preventing the bully from participating in outside recess, instead having to sit in the office.

For one day.

As you might imagine, that did nothing to curb his actions towards our son.

The school informed us that our son should write a letter to his teacher whenever the bully was bothering him. Last Wednesday he wrote his teacher a detailed letter about what the bully was doing to him.

On Thursday, our son had reached his tipping point.

He walked up to the bully and punched him in the face.

Now I have to admit that my actions and comments likely had an influence on this course of action. When my son had told me that the bully was pinching him and calling him a “bitch”, I too had had enough and informed my son that he had our blessing to defend himself.

I told him that he would not be in trouble at home and that my wife and I would deal with the school if he were to get in trouble. The point where I probably crossed the line was when I told my son that if he did have to defend himself, he should lay the bully out and say “Who is the bitch now?”

After releasing his frustration on the bully’s now bloody face, our son was sent to the principal and we received a phone call informing us that our son was going to be suspended.

As noted over at Tip Dad, our son’s school opted to punish our son for self defense while the bully that has been pinching, pushing, and punching him has received no such punishment.

The school initially told my wife and me that they would simply have our son serve the suspension in the principal’s office until it was time for him to leave school. In our eyes, he was being punished for something that we did not feel was wrong. Therefore we informed the school that he would serve his one day suspension at home and we would pick him up.

Normally, I would not condone fighting for the sake of fighting.

But our son was standing up for himself and at that moment, I could not have been more proud of him. There was no punishment awaiting him at home, as a matter of fact my wife and I took him out for lunch; although we did communicate to him that fighting is not the way to deal with problems.

After the incident at school, the principal informed us that she was disappointed that we did not trust the school to handle the matter. The point that the principal was missing was that we did trust the school to handle the matter, yet they failed that trust when they did nothing to curb the bully’s behavior.

To make matters worse, we were given a few documents by the school regarding how to deal with a bully. One of the documents indicated that sometimes kids will be bullied if they act different, dress different, or talk different and that they should try to change their behavior to fit in.

Excuse me!

Whatever happened to accepting people for who they are and not judging someone because they are different. It is absurd to see that a school system is trying to make the child being bullied feel it is their fault that they are the target of a bully.

The following day at school, my son was not sure what to expect and I told him to be cautious as the bully might want to try and punch him back. Quite the opposite occurred, as the bully now wants to be friends with my son.

When faced with a bully at school, you can do your best to avoid the situation and turn the other cheek.

However, as my son found out, sometimes you need to stand up for yourself and punch the bully square in the face.

Photo credit: Greencolander

In the last several weeks, some significant announcements have been made that affect the future of DSLRs. Both Canon and Nikon have introduced DSLR cameras that record High Definition video in addition to still images. Recording video on your camera is nothing new, but for the most part it’s been relegated to pocket digital cameras that allow you to record snippets of video at low quality. These new cameras, however, will rival the quality of most any video camera you would purchase separately at a store. I’ll tackle the biggest feature in a bit, but let’s talk briefly about the two cameras.

Nikon introduced the D90 to much fanfare. It’s a 12.9 Megapixel DSLR which can record 720p video. For Canon, the big announcement was the 5D Mark 2. It features a 21 Megapixel sensor and can record 1080p video. You can purchase the D90 now on Amazon for around $1200. The 5D Mark 2 won’t be available until November, and will run around $2600.

The biggest feature of these cameras besides the video? You get to use all of your existing lenses! So for example, if you’ve invested in a wide angle lens, or a lens with a very wide aperture (1.2 or 1.4), you can bring a look and quality to your home video productions which, until now, was very cost-prohibitive. For example, you can find plenty of HD video cameras online, but try finding 1.2 lenses for them. or a 400mm optical zoom lens. Forget about it.

Indeed, the prices of these two cameras are nothing to sneeze at. It’s a lot of money for an amateur photographer, and I would definitely have to buy some nice dinners for my wife and watch the kids more than usual to justify it for myself. But the point is that this is where photography is headed. This technology will eventually make its way down to both manufacturer’s entry-level cameras.

If you find it’s something you will be interested in, start learning about video production and lighting. Read up on lenses and how they affect the pictures you take. You can also read up dpreview.com’s excellent coverage of both the D90 and the 5D Mark 2.

Eric Doggett is a photographer in Austin, Texas. He has a site specifically forbaby photography tips at ShootTheBaby.com, as well as BoxOfficeBaby.com, a site where you can order custom birth/party announcement cards and posters - including some unique tech birth announcements. You can reach him at babydaddy -at- ShootTheBaby.com.

I can’t stress enough the importance of backing up, and I am sure you have either heard it or thought it several times yourself. So much of our lives is recorded digitally now, and with the great power of digital images/videos comes the great responsibility of protecting it for future generations. All it takes is one incident where you lose images and you’ll be ‘converted’!

Today, some people would simply back up to CD or DVD and be done with it. However, I recommend a different approach. Hard drives are priced incredibly low, so in addition to your CD/DVD backups, I recommend picking up one of those external drives and backing up there as well. Get a new external drive every year, and store just that year’s pictures on it. Use it only as a backup drive.

Why the multiple backups? Because every media eventually fails. This includes CDs, DVDs and hard drives. By having multiple backups, you provide additional protection for yourself.

Here’s how my folders are set up on the computer (using 2008 as an example):

2007

2008

• Events
• - Spring Break Trip 2008
• - Trevor’s First Birthday 2008
• Pets
• Kids
• Eric
• Wife
• Nature

With this system I can find all of the events for a given year, as well as other shots I’ve taken. I try to separate out events from random pictures (which would be in the Kids folder).

Use the system that works for you, but make sure you use something! Otherwise, you’ll have a big folder with a ton of images that are unorganized, and difficult to backup (because you have so many in one place). 

I also recommend using automated backup software. Since I am on a Mac, I use Super Duper, which is great. Every night it makes complete backups to an external drive.

There’s no end to the rabbit hole of backups! Since I have a background in wedding and portrait photography, I have multiple backups of everything. For every shoot, I have a working copy on my computer, a backup in the desk drawer on DVD, and another DVD along with a copy on portable hard drive in a storage unit a couple of miles away.

Now, you don’t have to get that crazy, but I would suggest keeping backups outside of your house (perhaps with a relative or a safety deposit box) of your most important images. The one time you need that backup, you’ll be happy you took the time!

So, are you a regular backer-upper? Have you come across any tips to preserve your images?

Eric Doggett is a photographer in Austin, Texas. He has a site specifically forbaby photography tips at ShootTheBaby.com, as well as BoxOfficeBaby.com, a site where you can order custom birth/party announcement cards and posters - including some unique tech birth announcements. You can reach him at babydaddy -at- ShootTheBaby.com.

First, I have to comment about the middle seat.

When I booked my flight, there were no window seats available - my preference given that I never get up during a flight. Hoping that something would open up by the time the online check-in became available, I jumped online 24 hours before my departure and realized that I was doomed to endure the middle seat. Unfortunately, my trip has not lived up to the Penthouse forum stories you read about being between two gorgeous ladies; instead I am sitting between two guys.

Smells like someone just farted…not pleasant at all. I’m thinking it was the guy that has already made three trips to the bathroom, although it could just as easily be the elderly woman in the next aisle who is sound asleep.

Now the guy to my left - he has been gone for over an hour. It seems his headphone case, Bose headphones as everyone within three aisles learned, slid back a few aisles during the take off. He was dead set on retrieving that case and when the people behind us did not act quickly enough, he decided to get up and get the case himself. Surely he has found it by now but I don’t know where he went after that; not that I really care as I am enjoying the extra leg room with the empty seat.

The guy to my right has been involved in a spirited game of bowling on his Nintendo DS. Every now and then I catch the occasional fist pump - undoubtedly after a strike or a difficult spare.

The smell of fart has dissipated, that or it burned my sense of smell so badly that I can no longer smell anything.

To the front, there is a family that must have had a long day; when I approached the ticket counter at the gate I heard the agent indicating that she was calling security due to their behavior. I later learned that they had been at the airport for over 6 hours and had numerous flights canceled, so I can imagine their frustration. Other than the fact that the woman has her seat reclined into my lap, they all seem nice enough.

Oh yeah, and why is it that the person in the window seat gets to decide whether I can look out the window or not. That just seems wrong to me, but what can you do.

The stream of people heading to the restroom is picking up now that the drink cart has passed by. You know, I’ve never used the restroom on an airplane and I don’t plan to change that anytime soon.

Another thing I don’t do - at least not often - is sleep on the airplane. As a courtesy to my fellow travelers, I only sleep when I am accompanied by someone that can elbow me in the ribs when I inevitably begin to snore. Instead, I just like to sit back and observe everyone else on the flight - much like I am doing right now.

We have entered into Florida and it won’t be too long until we touch down in Miami. The guy in 34A is still nowhere to be seen, not that I am complaining, and 34C just missed a crucial shot - or so I assume based on the fist slam to the tray table.

Ladies and gentlemen, please fasten your seat belts as the observations from seat 34B, the middle seat, have come to an end.

Up until a couple of days ago, I had not.

Sure, there had been issues with friends in the past but nothing that was quite like what unfolded recently.

To set the stage, I will remind you that my youngest son could be labeled as being a bit unique - he moves to the beat of his own drum. He is not one to follow what other people do, preferring to set his own path. He has his own unique style. While he loves to play sports and run around with his friends, he has a passion for dancing. He has long, skater hair and pierced ears.

At a recent dance practice, my son was informed that he would be a focal point of the group dance as he would start the dance on stage by himself, lip-syncing the words to the song G-Slide by Lil Mama. Then all of the girls would come out on stage and join the dance.

On the way home from practice, he had the following conversation with my wife.

YS: The kids will make fun of me for my part in the dance.

Wife: What kids?

YS: All the kids at school.

Wife: Why will they make fun of you?

YS: I like to talk about my dance but everyone makes fun of me for dancing.

Wife: Do you want to quit dancing?

YS: No, dancing is my favorite thing to do. I love it.

Wife: Good, should we worry about what other people think?

YS: No, but they make fun of me for my long hair and earrings too.

Wife: Do you want to cut your hair or take out your earrings?

YS: No.

Wife: You have your own style and I love that about you. Lets not worry about what other people think about and focus on the things that we enjoy.

YS: I know, I am going to sit down with my friends and tell them I love to dance and to talk about it and please don’t make fun of me.

Wife: That sounds like a great idea.

YS: Mom, if I become famous and am on TV, does that make Scott famous too cause he’s my friend?

Wife: Sure, I guess.

Here was a situation where my son was faced with a dilemma - he has an activity that he loves more than anything, but his friends make fun of him about it. While he doesn’t want to stop dancing, he wasn’t sure what to do about the situation with his friends. He wants to talk about it without being teased about being a girl since he dances.

To be honest, I’ve seen a few raised eyebrows myself when I explain to adults that my son is extremely interested in dancing. One woman asked me how I felt about my son dancing, as I come across as a sports-minded, man’s man kind of guy and she thought I would not accept him dancing. She was surprised when I told her how much I love that he is dancing and how I encourage him to follow his passions regardless of what other people think.

That is the lesson here.

When you find something that you truly love doing, don’t allow the opinions of others to deter you from pursuing that passion. The easy thing for my son to do would be to quit dancing and play baseball or football like all of his friends. While he enjoys playing those sports casually, he would rather focus his time on dancing and will be competing for the first time this year.

As a parent, we need to encourage our children to follow their dreams as well, even if we might not fully understand it at the time. When my son first expressed an interest in dancing, I’ll admit that I had questions about it but I kept them quiet. When I saw how much he loves to dance, I knew that I would be right there with him offering my encouragement every step of the way.

Encourage your children. Support your children. Love your children.