Author: Family Friendly Daddy Blog

4 Comments Posted on December 11, 2010March 5, 2024 Nostalgia, People, Storytelling, Uncategorized

dad from day one: The Magical Mystery Tour… For Babies

Week 3.

In the aftermath of four baby showers, it’s easy for me to see that Jack has been well cared for by friends and family. One of my favorite items of his is his pair of “vitamin socks” (featured above). Maybe they’re supposed to look like little capsules from Dr. Mario; I don’t know. But the fact that they have the word “vitamins” on the bottom of them makes them so classically random that I wouldn’t be surprised if they were designed in Taiwan. My favorite part of his vitamin socks is that we have no idea where they came from. We pull just pulled them out of his drawer one day and had them on Jack’s feet before we realized how hilarious and mysterious they are.

My parents recently bought Jack a swing, which is best for helping in to take long afternoon naps. It has these three bears that fly around in circles over him. Sometimes I feel that the things that work best for making him happy are the ones that make him feel like he’s tripping through the outer space of an alternate baby universe. It doesn’t help that as he is swinging back & forth and up & down that “Sun King” from The Beatles’ Abbey Road album is playing in the background as I speak to him in a low voice right into his ear, “Jaaaack… I am your fah-ther…” And when he’s not in his swing, it’s still so natural just to pick him up and fly him through the air like he’s Superbaby.

With some of his toys, I have been surprised at how they actually do what they are supposed to do. We regularly use a Sleep Sheep that along with music and rain sounds, also has a “whale button”. The harmonious conversations of actual whales at sea do indeed soothe Jack, even if they sort of freak me out. There’s also this star we received that displays ocean scenes on the ceiling while playing our choice of either lullabye music or makes water sounds. I never would have thought it to be the kind of toy we would actually use every single day, but it is: It works. When it’s time for him to settle down for the night, we turn on the star and Jack becomes both mesmerized and hypnotized.

Being a baby must really be a trip… I mean, what would you think if everyone talked to you in a high-pitched, slow motion voice and when you looked down at your feet, you realized they had turned into puppy dog heads?

3 Comments Posted on December 11, 2010May 9, 2011 People, Storytelling, Uncategorized

dad from day one: Diaper Duty and Sleeping Arrangements

Week 3.

Men aren’t supposed to like changing diapers. And I suppose no one truly likes changing diapers, but something I have learned in these 3 and a half weeks so far is that it’s really not that bad right now. He’s still in the “yellow, seedy poop” stage. So I can’t honestly say that the smell is difficult to deal with. The hardest part about changing his diapers is taking off his clothes and putting them back on.

The way I look at it, despite all that my wife does for not only our son but for us as well, if there’s one thing I can do efficiently, it’s to change his diapers. Granted, as much as my parents and sister and her husband have helped out as well, it’s not like I’m changing the majority of his diapers anyway. But if nothing else, I have learned that a dirty diaper is not something I fear or have any valid reason to avoid. Though I do prefer it when he’s wearing a onesie: easy access.

In theory, Jack would spend the majority of his sleeping hours in his nice crib. But in reality, during the day he sleeps wherever he ends up falling asleep. Sometimes it’s his sock monkey bed, sometimes it’s the papason chair, and sometimes it’s somebody’s arms. It’s funny how it’s an infant’s full time job to sleep. When he wakes up, Jack typically goes through a 15 minute stretching ordeal. I love how he is essentially exhausted from sleeping all the time.

I have always secretly wanted a fur coat- the chic yet manly kind like Rocky Balboa had. That appears to be in the genes as Jack loves to be wrapped up in the finest, softest materials. Jack lives such a glorious, pampered life. He has an appreciation for the finer things in life. But he also isn’t above loudly passing gas when people hold him. That’s good- it shows he’s culturally balanced.

Leave a comment Posted on December 8, 2010March 5, 2024 Nostalgia, Storytelling, Uncategorized

Predetermined and Preconceived Expectations (My Take on Encores, Bartering, and Who Pays for Dinner)

Yes, the title is redundant. But there isn’t a more appropriate way to describe how ridiculous some of our modern traditions are.

Since the 7th grade, I have been to more concerts than I can count; starting from when Christian rock music was still awesome (from 1992 to 1998) with now defunct bands like dc talk and Audio Adrenaline, to current favorites like Guster and John Mayer, to class acts like Michael Buble. I love music and I love concerts. (Yes, there are people who don’t actually like music at all. They are the ones who say they like all music, including both rap and Country equally.)

After you’ve been to a few concerts, you become overaware of how virtually every concert will end: After the “last song” is finished, the band hurries off the stage while saying “Good night (enter name of city where the concert is), you’ve been great!” But the lights stay off in the auditorium or arena. This gives the necessary opportunity for the audience to cheer “Encore!” or “We want more!” until the band predictably returns to the stage to perform a few more songs- where they typically include at least one acoustic version of one of their songs and also one of the band’s most notable songs they conveniently left out of the main set.

Fact: Encores are lame. I say either [crap] or got off the pot.

In my mind, this concept clearly relates to the mostly un-American tradition of bartering. During my first summer teaching English in Thailand, I paid full price for souvenirs. If a price tag had said that an imposter Hard Rock Café: Bangkok t-shirt would cost me 7 or even 10 bucks, I paid it. Because that sounded pretty reasonable to me. But by the end of that first summer, as Thai friends starting accompanying me, I learned that the asking price was not meant to be taken seriously. If the asking price was $10, the after-barter price was typically as low as $5 or even $3.50.

As an American, I had been used to finding my own way to negotiate prices in America: With coupons or Internet specials, or simply just “price shopping” until I found the store with the cheapest price. I pride myself in never paying full price for anything if I can help it. But in Thailand and in so many Third World and developing countries, there are no coupons or Internet specials. Instead, you barter with the merchant. Otherwise, you get hosed.

Granted, bartering does indeed exist in America. Like when you buy a car, go to a garage sale, or buy something off of Craig’s List. But typically it’s not worth my time to do business that way. I’d rather spend my time finding the product somewhere else where the price is firm and already low. Otherwise, I will not be an active consumer.

Fact: Bartering is lame. Instead of getting involved with the predictable “buyer asks too low a price, seller asks too high a price” banter, I will simply find another way to buy the product.

Lastly in my trilogy of examples is the awkward game of “who’s paying for dinner?” If I am going to buy someone’s dinner, I am very clear with them up front before we arrive at the restaurant: “I am taking you to dinner. I really appreciate how you (I name the reason I am buying their meal, even if it’s as simple as thanking them for their general kindness and friendship).” There is no guessing to be done. I am buying their meal.

That means when the waiter comes by the table when it’s time to pay up and asks, “Will this be together or separate?” there is no grabbing for the bill by both me and the other person. I don’t like the feeling that I owe someone for anything unless there’s a good reason for it. So this whole idea that “you bought my meal this time, so I’ll buy yours next time”, it doesn’t work for me. Because then I have that “IOU” hanging over my head. Let’s make it simple. If you want to buy my meal, tell me up front. As I will do the same. Otherwise, it’s assumed that we’re paying separately and the only bill anyone grabs for at the end is their own.

Fact: I can’t truly enjoy a meal if I think there’s a chance that I am expected in the least to grab the other person’s bill.

I live a simple life where clear-cut expectations make me happy. This is my version of reality.

1 Comment Posted on December 7, 2010March 5, 2024 Nostalgia, People, Spirituality, Storytelling, Uncategorized

Just Like the Uniqueness of Human Fingerprints, No Two People Share the Same Version of Reality

Is the integrity of “reality” compromised because it’s different for every person on Earth?

One of the subconscious questions that we movie watchers love to deal with is “What is reality?” Maybe the main character was actually dead the whole time. Maybe the whole thing was a computer-generated reality that took place centuries after the main character died. Maybe the setting wasn’t really the 1800’s, but instead current day the entire time. These movie twists are interesting because they reveal our fascination with the fact that “reality” is more of an idea and less of a certainty. Even if most people agree that this world we all live in is indeed reality, there is still the afterlife (or “after reality”) to consider, which completely complicates and enhances the importance of reality.

These thoughts about reality, the meaning of life, and the afterlife are unavoidable at some point in life, for most people. When someone we are close to dies, our thoughts have to at least consider for a few minutes what happens next for that person. But even in its simplest form, it’s still difficult to grasp the fact that reality, if nothing else, is different for every person on Earth- and therefore, reality is a static thing, even if most of us agree what reality generally is. So why is reality so different for each individual?

Sometimes when I read, I come across a quote that I wish I would have thought up myself. Last week as I was reading Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs by Chuck Klosterman, hidden somewhere in the middle of this random yet organized book (page 169) I found this nugget of epiphany: “The strength of your memory dictates the size of your reality.”

For a guy like me who is arguably only a few notches away from being Aspergers, with a vibrant memory of details of my life all the way back to my 2nd birthday party in 1983, my obsessive habits regarding pop trivia, and my natural ability to memorize Wikipedia highlights, it could be said that if the above quote is true, then the size of my reality is pretty large. But even if you’re not a walking Wikipedia like me, you still have used your memory to save meaningful information (like certain things you learned in your highest level of education, as well as social cues and expectations) along with meaninglessinformation (like who won the Super Bowl in 1997 or who Jake Pavelka chose on the finale of The Bachelor). The purposeful along with the pointless are both mixed together along with memories from your life that for whatever reason are not forgotten. These are some of the major ingredients that make up an individual reality.

But even if we can’t all share the same reality (which would be beyond boring), through our meaningful human relationships we can form a similar version of reality. For life to have meaning, life must be shared: The more shared experiences people have with each other, the greater their shared reality is. Our friendships, our families, our political affiliations, our religious organizations… they all help make reality a reality.

Leave a comment Posted on December 7, 2010March 5, 2024 Nostalgia, People, Storytelling, Uncategorized

What Do You Visualize When You Think of a Person’s Last Name?

Surely something comes to mind, no matter who the person is.

Throughout my whole life, I have always visualized a noun or idea whenever I hear anyone’s last name. Maybe it’s just me that does that. But I felt that the habit was worth expanding on. So I asked my facebook friends what they thought of when they hear my last name, which is Shell- the German adjective for “loud and noisy”, originally spelled “Schel”. Their responses can be found at the very end of this post.

Then to demonstrate my thought process, I returned the favor:

Johnson- Johnsonville Brats

Rogers- a 1950’s milkman

York- the state, not the city

Clements- the Clampetts from the Beverly Hillbillies

Majer- the sitcom Major Dad

Kregenow- a city I made up in Michigan, that is only said best with a Midwestern accent

Hegar- Sammy Hagar

Alexander- Alexander the Great

McElhaney- Scottish people and GI Joe’s

Hardin- German people who love friend pickles

Welch- Welch’s grape juice

Creel- the Tori character from the final season of the original Saved by the Bell, played by actress Leanna Creel

Jenkins- Fat Albert and the Junkyard Band

Chapman- Steven Curtis Chapman, the Christian singer

Britt- a member of a British glam-rock band from the Eighties

Wilder- Gene Wilder, the Jewish actor who played the original Willy Wonka

Gordon- the singer Gordon Lightfoot

Part of my writing style is that I almost always try to bring the topic to a close by ending with some sort of ironic twist. So here it is:

How did we get last names in the first place? There are basically three major ways. First, the name could be referring to the town of where one of our ancestors lived: A common trait of Scottish last names is that they end in “ton”, which means town. So “Pinkerton” means “from the town of Pinker”. Second, the name could be recognizing an ancestral father or father figure: A common trait of English last names is that they end in “son”, which implies “son of”. So “Davidson” means “David’s son”. Similarly, Irish last names often begin “O’”, which also implies “son of”. So “O’ Conner” means “son of Conner.”

Thirdly, and most interestingly, the last name is referring to an adjective or physical trait that an ancestor was known for. Like the last names Short, Brown, Swift, Freeman, and Blessing. Notice how many Jewish last names refer to monetary wealth: Goldberg, Silverman, Richman, Diamond, and Sachs (as in “sacks” of money- though the actual reference is to a city in Germany, it’s still an interesting coincidence). With that being said, my habit of visualizing people’s last names is not a new thing at all. People have been doing this since… well, since people have had last names.

Nick Shell New assignment for you, friends: “What do you visualize when you think of my last name?” (If you answer me, I will answer you regarding your last name, on your wall; as well as tag you in the post when I publish it.)

December 1 at 11:44pm · Like · Comment

- Brad Johnson I think of you and the gas station that my grandfather used to own.
  
  December 1 at 11:47pm · Like
- Debra Johnson A sea shell
  
  December 1 at 11:57pm via Facebook Mobile · Like
- Ashley Rogers Seashell…that always comes to my mind when someone has the last name Shell….and then I drift off thinking about how i”d love to be at the beach…. lol
  
  December 1 at 11:58pm · Like
- Crystal York Allen I think of the beach and the ocean. It is quiet calming.
  
  December 2 at 12:20am · Like
- Bobby Clements Sea shell (the smooth pretty kind) – then thoughts drift to the beach – then the waves – then the ocean – then to wonder why James Cameron is making a sequel to Avatar involving the ocean – then to why is James Cameron making a sequel at all.
  
  December 2 at 12:30am via Facebook Mobile · Like · 1 person
- Jessica Mager Toney i think of a sea shell…more specifically a conch shell.
  
  December 2 at 2:53am · Like
- Sarah Kregenow Issac Running out of gas and the color yellow.
  
  December 2 at 3:47am · Like
- Rebecca Hegar velveeta shells and cheese
  
  December 2 at 3:49am · Like
- Amanda Smith Alexander Not Shell gas station- they were too involved in the Holocaust. You’re a Jewish sea shell from the Sea of Galilee. Creative? :)
  
  December 2 at 5:47am via Facebook Mobile · Like
- Russell McElhaney The white sandy beach
  
  December 2 at 6:43am · Like
- Christy Perkins Hardin OK, so I’m different… I see that we are all start as just an empty shell, and the experiences of life fill us and mold us into the kind of person we become… ever-changing, as we add new experiences into our being. That shell may be filled with mostly good or mostly bad, and the choice is ours. Clearly, that shell is a God-shaped void…imagine what we would be if we actually filled that void with Him!
  
  December 2 at 6:44am · Like
- Jason Welch The “shell game” where there are three shells with a ball under one. You know, move them around and guess which has the ball.
  
  December 2 at 7:26am · Like
- Hjordis Maddock Creel Sea shells, any and all of them. I grew up in Florida and I love shells. I’ve got a collection of shells and I am always pondering what to do with them.
  
  December 2 at 7:54am · Like
- Will Jenkins a 70’s drawing of a little green turtle
  
  December 2 at 9:56am · Like
- Rita Gail Chapman I see seashells at the seashore…..three times, real fast!
  
  December 2 at 10:39am · Like
- Sherry Britt Shell I SEE A LONG WALK ON THE BEACH HUNTING SEASHELL
  
  December 2 at 3:27pm · Like
- Ben Wilder I think of you singing on stage. That’s the image of you I have in my head when your name comes up. And you laughing and shrugging your shoulders.
  
  Friday at 10:40am · Like