The TrackSuit Family is going to NY tomorrow so I was looking for listings of public restrooms and found this: Mizpee.com
“MizPee is a new service focused on delivering pertinent information regarding the location of nearby restrooms.Using MizPee is as simple as surfing to mizpee.com via a mobile device.”
I know this will come in handy with the little ones in-tow. I’ll blog all about it when I’m back.
Categories: TrackSuit CEO
Tagged: bathrooms in NY, mizpee, mizpee.com
took a break from the blog last week because I had to. This was my first full week with all 3 jobs in place and I just didn’t have the capacity to
write my beloved blog. I think the reason for my lack of mental energy had to do with me not getting to spend as much time with my wife and daughters. And that actually leads me to the 3rd Commandment in my series The 10 Commandments of Supporting Your Family:
Draw on the energy of your family or you’ll never have enough energy.
What’s the difference between a workaholic and a supportaholic? (I think I just coined this one, pending Urban Dictionary approval) For the workaholic there will never be enough work. Never enough money and the reason is: their energy comes from work and not from home. Not from their family. Now, they may complain about work (and they usually do) but they would never trade it for more time with the family. As Gandhi said: “There’s enough for the needy but not enough for the greedy.” And the workaholic has an insatiable and greedy approach to their work.
The supportaholic is what us family people should strive to be, because the supportaholic is different. They will do whatever it takes to support their family. They’ll work overtime or multiple jobs (I’ve got 3+) to support the family, but it’s only done in response to the need for money and when the need is met those extra hours/jobs get dropped like a hot tamale. And in the meantime the energy to do all that extra work comes from the family.
All I have to do is look at how hard my wife is working to raise our daughters and her efforts at supporting the family, and that’s all the inspiration I need. A little time with my daughters, seeing their energy, their youth rubs off on me and I feel young again. Without them I wouldn’t be able to make it through my week. Without them what’s the point?
So while I have been accused of being a serial entrepreneur in the past, the new me, the TrackSuit CEO has realized where my energy and inspiration comes from. So right now I may look just like a workaholic, but I know that this is all just temporary and soon I’ll be back to a more manageable schedule and lifestyle. So TrackSuit Family: ‘hang in there’, and you Dear TrackSuit Readers: ‘please forgive my occasional blog posting hiccups, I’m sure my fellow supportaholics out there will understand.’
Categories: TrackSuit CEO
The TrackSuit CEO recently took another job, thus making my time home with the family just a little more precious. I know I’ve got to make the most
of my Sundays so we were booked solid. One of our activities was bowling at my cousin’s birthday party. My 3 year old was having a great time even though she found it difficult, at first, to get the ball all the way to the end of the lane. So later when she started to get the hang of it, mom and I couldn’t conceal our excitement.
Later as my wife and I reflected on our day, the kids in bed’, she made an observation. When we applauded her bowling her reaction wasn’t what you would expect. It was a sort of dismissive, annoyed kind of reaction. Not a “yea! my parents are cheering me on” kind of look. I realized that our parenting technique is working. She doesn’t need that reassurance from us. She knows she’s doing well and doesn’t need us to tell her. We’ve tried since she was born to teach her to look to herself for approval. Instead of saying, “We’re so proud of you” we’ll say, “You must be so proud of yourself”. And this seems obvious but it’s really not and I doubt many of us were raised this way: to look within for approval.
When you look within yourself for approval or praise you don’t have to do things just for appearance. You do them because they’re the right thing to do, not just because it makes your parents proud of you. One of the worst examples of this kind of approval-based parenting was when an acquaintance of ours (I won’t say friend) tells her son it hurts her feelings when he wets the bed. Talk about a messed up way for a parent to tie their emotional well-being into their child’s actions. So for the rest of his life when his mom is sad or upset he will assume that it’s probably because of something he did.
So looking back on that reaction at the bowling alley, that “settle down, Mom and Dad” kind of reaction you shouldn’t see until early adolescence, I can’t help but feel a sense of pride. I’ll do my best to keep it to myself.
Categories: TrackSuit CEO
When my wife and I got married over 8 years ago she had decided to take my last name. That was that. Then came the wedding and then came my
mother. God bless my mother but she nearly ruined our wedding (including the Honeymoon, but that’s a different post/or book). The reality set in that she would be trading her name for their name too, not just mine. This caused instant name changing paralysis. But can you blame her? If you married into a family that made you feel unwelcome would you want to take their name?
It’s a much bigger decision than whether or not you should get a small-of-back tattoo (you definitely should). Your name determines a lot, it determines your alphabetical order, where you stand in line for dodge-ball picks in elementary school gym class. Or which table you line up at for your name-tag at those business conferences.
There’s also the way the name sounds and how it combines with your first name. Honestly, if she had taken my name her new one would have been very boring, probably forcing her into a lifetime of teaching elementary school. Her name, the one she was born with, is an awesome name with Greek mythological connotations and sounds good with her first name too.
So, you may ask, why doesn’t she just hyphenate it? She could do that but then our daughters would have different names than her and after what she went through to bring these girls into the world, she deserves to have the same name as them (at the very least). We could hyphenate our daughter’s names but then me and the girls would have different names.
So to simplify everything and as a kind of symbol of our marriage and the solidarity of our family I think we’re all going to change our names. Me, the TrackSuit CEO and her (pen name: Breeda Kahlo) will come together to form the Breeda-TrackSuit family. I think we’re going to make it legal.
Now comes the tricky part. It all makes sense logically but when you take my family’s reaction into consideration it gets more complicated. I know my dad and I know his feelings will be hurt. I also know my family comes first but I don’t want to hurt feelings. I don’t want to cause additional stress and heartache. God knows things are strained as it is.
So that’s where I’m at and I could definitely use some advice as to how to handle this untraditional arrangement with my more traditional family. Have any of you readers done this? I’ll keep you posted as things develop.
Categories: TrackSuit CEO
his is the second commandment in the 10 Commandments series. The first Commandment was: To Support a Family You Need a Support System. So here’s the second commandment:
You have to be willing to do anything, so that you can do everything.
By that I mean you have to be eager, hungry and open to any possible way to support that family of yours. And your mindset will put you in the perfect position to receive. You don’t have to scrub toilets at the bus station, but you have to be willing to. And that willingness goes a long way in this world!
Here’s an interesting example of how this works. A friend of ours just got a new job and while he was training he just mentioned that he was
probably going to take on another job in the evenings or on the weekends to support his new family (he has a new baby). The next thing he knew, the big boss (who he never told any of this to) brought him into his office. The boss told him that he likes his energy and knows he is going to be good in his new job and because the more money my friend makes the more the boss makes, he asked him not to think about taking another job. Instead he cut him a big fat personal check, not a loan, just a check. Something to alleviate the urgency to get some fast money until the commission checks start rolling.
So you see how that worked? He put it out there that he has to support his family and made it clear that he’s willing to work long hard hours to do this. And out of the blue he gets a check handed to him, meeting his immediate needs and he’s reassured that his long-term needs will also be taken care off. All in one fell swoop.
Why is it all so simple but none of it intuitive?
Categories: TrackSuit CEO
This is not 100% accurate but based on page views here are the stats:
29% Pirate without a ship/Ninja without an electric guitar
21% True Pirate
19% Kung Fu Pirate
16% True Ninja
15% Nautical Ninja
So do you think these stats accurately represent you, dear readers? Speak up (in the comments box)!
Categories: TrackSuit CEO
News Flash: The Pirate or Ninja Personality Test is now ready!
You know the part in Pulp Fiction where Uma Thurman’s character states that you are either an ‘Elvis man’ or a ‘Beatles man’. I couldn’t agree
more but I prefer to classify people as either Ninjas or Pirates. My wife recently blogged about this and our friend Kathleen introduced a new variable into the equation: Monkey or Robot.
So I decided to run with it and have created the Ninja or Pirate Personality Test. But be warned, you will begin to put everyone into one of these two categories: friends, loved ones and coworkers. It could bring you closer or possibly end in a keel-hauling or beheading.
So which one is better? Well, I’ll leave that up to you. Everyone falls into one of these two categories but not everyone is a Ninja or a Pirate expert. Learning more about Pirates is easy. They’re all around us, go watch Pirates of the Carribean, that’s swashbuckling on the high seas at its finest. And the absolute best resource for learning more about Ninjas (or Ninja to all the true enthusiasts out there) is RealUltimatePower.net where the Ninjas all wail on electric guitars and flip out and kill people.[1.]
So if you want to know which one you are come back tomorrow for the beta release of the Ninja or Pirate Personality Test.
[1.] Ninja Fact #3
TrackSuit CEO will be at SXSW Interactive March 9 at 11:30
Come join the conversation on Blogging on Company Time
Categories: TrackSuit CEO
My insurance company hung up on me last night. The events that led up to this started with my wife and I having a home birth with our youngest
daughter. With a home birth pretty much all of the expenses are out-of-pocket, then the insurance company reimburses you. Well, that’s been fine with all of the major expense which were reimbursed through my current provider. My previous provider however, has been a different story. I submitted an ultrasound claim 8 months ago to this insurance provider whose name I will withhold (UnitedHealthcare). I was told last week that my check was mailed to the doctor who provided the care originally. The ones we already paid!
So after a long “discussion” I was reassured that 8 months is a perfectly acceptable amount of time in which to settle a claim. Then the representative stated that she refused to debate with me any longer on the subject and then “click”. She hung up on me!
I think I’m going to need Michael Moore. Since his new documentary, SiCKO came out, he has been contacted by so many people who have been screwed by insurance companies that he came out with his own Health Care Card. The site gives the following instructions:
CLiCK here to download your very own SiCKO Health Care Card (PDF)
Has anyone else had problems getting reimbursed after submitting their own claim, or is it just me? Well, I’m giving them one last shot today and then I’m emailing America’s favorite propagandist.
Categories: TrackSuit CEO
My daughter asked me, “Daddy, why do you always want to watch a different movie?” By this she meant, why don’t I like to watch the same movie with her over and over again. We have movie night with her every Friday and her mom and I always want to watch something new, “We love Snow White sweetie, but we watched it last week”. She’s like the boss from The
Office trying to make us watch the same episode of Entourage 4 weeks in a row!
But her question also made me wonder why we like to watch the same things again and again when we’re kids, but when we get older we watch it once and we’re done with it. I’m always trying to learn new things from the Braniac (her informal title), so I give the question some careful consideration. I think one of the reasons they rewatch the same movie is because they’re getting something new each time they watch it. Film critics and directors watch the same movies over and over. And they’re learning or observing something new each time (well, maybe not the critics).
As we grow up we observe less in general, we learn less. We watch a movie for the basics, we glaze over, and if we’re lucky we remember a few lines (unless the movie is Tommy Boy and then we’re unlucky if we remember a few lines). We aren’t picking up on the details, we aren’t soaking it all in. Remember on Amelie when she points out the fly that has made it into the movie she’s watching, she’s noticing details most of us would miss.
So what I’ve decided to do, the next time she asks me to watch one of those very familiar Disney movies with her, is tell her ‘it’s a date’. You should do the same, and I guarantee we’ll all learn something new.
Categories: TrackSuit CEO
This is the first in my series called the 10 Commandments of Supporting Your Family. These are in no particular order of importance and have yet to be carved on stone tablets. But if they ever do show up in tablet form you better believe I’m gonna smash them up Moses-style!
The First Commandment: To Support a Family You Need a Support System
Recovering alcoholics are really onto something. They’ve discovered over at AA that they can accomplish more with a support group in place than they can working individually. Their struggle with addiction seems a lot more manageable knowing that they’re not alone in their struggle. They have a small community of people facing similar circumstances and these people will also hold them accountable for their actions.
So where’s the support group for those of us who support our families? Where are the Mom and Dad support groups? And what should these support groups even look like?
I set this blog up for people like me: parents who are reinventing the role of parenthood and approach it all in a revolutionary new way. There are certain things we can learn from our parents but, let’s face it, most of the rules we are making up as we go. And reinventing parenthood is not for the faint of heart, we need support.
Past generations have had their extended family as their support systems. They’ve spent their whole lives in the same community and the support is built-in. There were babysitters, fellow parents to compare notes with and a professional community to network within. The problem us new parents are facing is we don’t live in the communities we grew up in. We have moved off to make our own way in the world and therefore have to start from scratch.
Just as we’ve chosen to make our own rules for our families, we also have to build our own network of support. The good news is we aren’t the only ones looking to build a support system. Like-minded folks are all around us and we just need to reach out.
I’ve seen a pattern lately with my fellow baby-daddies. These are dads who are young, dedicated and who absolutely refuse to grow up. We’ve done a lot to hold onto our youth in spite of our new parental responsibilities but we’re having trouble identifying with our old friends. A dad I spoke to yesterday is finding it increasingly difficult to have a conversation with his old buddies. They call him up, tell him how trashed they got last night and then ask him what he’s been up to. What did he do last night?
What could they possibly have in common now? We may still listen to the same music but we’ve changed our schedules and our priorities.
I’m working on my own solution right now. Me and a couple of other dads are going to start a happy hour and my ultimate goal is to form a sort of dad collective from it where we combine our resources, skills and experience to benefit the group as a whole. The recovering alcoholics have AA and us dads are going to have SSS.
If you’re a dad in the Austin area who’s interested or you just want to know what SSS stands for then contact me.
TrackSuit CEO will be at SXSW Interactive March 9 at 11:30
Come join the conversation on Blogging on Company Time
Categories: TrackSuit CEO
Tagged: 10 commandments, supporting your family, sxsw interactive
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