Showing posts with label List. Show all posts
Showing posts with label List. Show all posts

Those Kids Entering College


Our babysitter of the last 5 years is going off to college this week. It’s strange because in some odd way it feels as if my own kid is going off to school; we’ve known her and her family for years.

My daughter was pretty upset about it for a few weeks but finally moved into the “acceptance” phase when she created some artwork for our college-bound sitter this past weekend for her to display in her new dorm room.
I wished I had taken a picture of it, as I do with most of her artwork, but it’s basically a picture of a dolphin with an ice cream cone waving with its friends saying, “See you at Thanksgiving!” And they’re all wearing pink pilgrim hats and necklaces.
The dolphin is supposed to be a self-portrait as my daughter is still planning on becoming a dolphin when she grows up. In fact, when I ask her what college has a dolphin major she just answers matter-of-factually with, “(duh!) Any college in Hawaii.”

At our sitters going away to college party with a few of her friends and family, the adults started talking about how strange it is that these kids were all born in 1992, which is a bit disturbing because that doesn’t seem that long ago at all.
In fact, I still have perfectly usable clothes in my closet that are from circa 1992. My wife might find the term “usable” debatable, but I beg to differ.

This time of year I always find that the annual Beliot Mindset list highly informative. Basically that’s the yearly list reminding adults how young these kids actually are and how old we have gotten in such a short amount of time. Here are some interesting tidbits from it, with of course some of my own commentary added here and there.

A Few Interesting Facts About the Class of 2014
  1. Korean made Hyundai cars actually work now as opposed to being broken down on the side of the road. I still wouldn’t buy one as I use to own a 1989 Excel that loved to break down.
  2. Yugo? What’s that?
  3. They’ve never written in cursive. I just tried now and still remember. Now I trying to think when they last time I've actually used it...
  4. Email is just too slow, and they seldom if ever use snail mail.
  5. They use cell phones to tell them the time, no need for a wristwatch.
  6. They have never worried about a Russian missile strike on the U.S.
  7. Kurt Cobain is now on the classic oldies station.
  8. Fergie is a pop singer, not a princess.
  9. They never twisted the coiled handset wire aimlessly around their wrists while chatting on the phone.
  10. Computers have never lacked a CD-ROM disk drive.
  11. Their parents’ favorite TV sitcoms have always been showing up as horrible movies. The only exemption: the Brady Bunch movie.
Some Sourced from Beloit College Mindset List

What other things can you think of?

Things to Look Forward to in 2009


There are things I’m going to miss about 2008: Joe the Plumber, 6-year old Chinese gymnast, bottled water not being cool anymore, etc.
And things that I won’t: financial crisis, potty training crisis, high gas prices crisis, Chuck E. Cheese’s crisis, Speed Racer movie crisis, Hadron Collider destroying the world - crisis.
I don’t know about you but I was a little nervous about that Collider, created by those mad European scientist sucking things into a black hole. Maybe next time around they could point it at Chuck E. Cheese so I don’t have to go to any more birthday parties there.

Nevertheless, here’s my list of things I’m looking forward to in ’09:

  1. The demise of Bratz. After a huge court battle with Mattel Toys, MGA Entertainment (i.e. “The Pimps” of Bratz) is being forced to destroy the entire line, including the sushi strip bar. It still baffles me that some parents actually bought these thong wearing, drug addict looking, hookers for their daughters. And not just a few, but billions of dollars worth the past 8 years.
  2. 10-year wedding anniversary. And to celebrate this April we’re going on a 15-day trip to Paris, France – where the wife and I met nearly 12 years ago. But this trip won’t be filled with white-tablecloth dinners, 12-hour visits to museums by day, and clubbing until 6am like the last time we were there because we’re taking our daughter. Paris with a 3-year old is definitely going to be different this time around. But after some research we’re finding out that there are lots of kid/family friendly things to do there. And I’m planning on blogging about the experience, possibly daily.
  3. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Movie. This will probably be the only movie I see in a theater this year. Well maybe, Transformers 2, G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra, and Up. And I’m sure my daughter will be all over Princess and the Frog, so maybe that one too.
  4. My daughter’s 4th birthday. Come to think of it, maybe I’m not really looking forward to that one. She’s already growing up much too fast as it is. Her “Santa Wish List” this past Christmas consisted of make-up, lip-gloss, nail polish, hair/body glitter, a tattoo, a cell phone, and a chocolate bunny. Santa ended up bringing her a chocolate Santa and a Dollhouse.
  5. A flying car. We're definitely overdue on this. And not only should it fly, it should be Mr. Fusion powered by banana peels, empty Jamba Juice cups, shredded up Bratz dolls, and leftover Chuck E. Cheese prize tickets.
  6. KFC “Spicy” Popcorn Chicken. I’ve been petitioning KFC for years, but this year is going to be different because I’m starting one of those Internet campaigns. Use this letter as a template (modify if needed), mail and join the Revolution!
To: Colonel Sanders
C/o Customer Satisfaction
P.O. Box 725489
Atlanta, GA 31139
(Or online here. But unlike a letter, you can’t draw pictures on it.)


Dear Colonel (or current CEO of delicious chicken),

Everybody knows your greatest creation, Popcorn Chicken that comes in a little movie popcorn bucket, is the greatest invention known to modern man (after drive-thru's and the Internet.) But it can be better; you could offer Spicy Popcorn Chicken.

If you did this, I promise to eat it everyday. Even when the wife says “Hell no! We’re not going to EAT spicy popcorn chicken again for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and at the movie theater!” She’ll learn to love it - even if it takes 10 more years of marriage.

Sincerely,
Tony
“Creative-Type Dad” advocate of Spicy Popcorn Chicken
(Sign your own name here, but leave in “advocate of Spicy Popcorn Chicken” – very important.)

P.S. Please don’t let your employees take baths in the sinks anymore – thanks!




One day…the vision will be reality. I just know it.
What are you looking forward to in ’09?

Five Things You Didn't Know About Me (And Some That May Scare You…)

I was tagged by real-life friend Rick for this (I did another similar to this called “5 weird things about me” awhile back too..)

1. I was in a Roller Skating Rink advertisement when I was 11. For the coolest rink in town at the time – Skate Country. It was a staged birthday party scene with 4 other kids (I was in the center- the “supa-star” birthday kid.) The thing ran locally for nearly a year. I was even recognized once at the local Sizzler and at the mall. I wish I can find the advertisement and put in on a t-shirt.

2. My Art teacher in High School told me that I would never have an Art career. That got to me motivated and so I did everything in my power to prove her wrong (even used voo-doo…. Well no, not really.) In reality, that’s probably the best thing anybody ever did for me, since I ended up where I am today. I tried to get in contact with her about 10 years ago, but she had passed away.

3. I had an encounter with a Spice Girl. When the Spice Girls did their movie premiere of “Spice World” in Hollywood, a friend and I went to a restaurant they were going to be at (we had some inside info.) I almost ran into Posh (aka: "Hot Spice" or Victoria) near the restroom, she stopped and said “hello thar” to me...in that posh English accent. That was cool.

4. I can play Depeche Mode songs on the accordion. Actually, that’s about all I can play on it. When I was a kid, I wanted to take piano lessons like everybody else. But somehow I ended up taking accordion instead. I still have the thing in my grandparent’s garage – I wonder if the DM sticker is still on it?

5. I was a vegetarian for 13 years. It ended just after we had my daughter, I had 2 reasons for eating meat again 1) I didn’t want my daughter to be picky about food; possibly hearing “Daddy doesn’t eat cow, so why should I?” 2) There’s this freaky vegan (ya’ know, the kind that doesn’t eat anything that casts a shadow) at work that weights like 12, maybe 13 pounds and both her daughters (around age 4 and 9) are vegans too (she said “they” made the decision themselves…yeah, sure, O.K.) I’ve seen pictures of them and they look weird - like that one drugged out Olsen twin.

If you want to do this on your blog, leave a comment and I’ll link to you.