Coffee With A WWE Superstar!

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Thanks to the Canadian Tire Centre and the WWE, I had the very cool opportunity of sitting down with WWE Superstar, Damien Sandow, to talk about his life as a wrestler. To prepare for the interview, I listened to a bunch of Mr. Sandow’s radio interviews. I noticed that he was frequently being interviewed as his wrestling character as opposed to the man behind the wrestler and while it was entertaining, I was more interested in what his life was like outside the ring.

I have to say that I had no idea what to expect from “Mr. Money In The Bank”, but he was an amazing person and a pleasure to interview. With all the radio, TV and PPV stuff these guys do, it would have been easy for him to brush off a local blogger, but both Sandow and the WWE were extremely respectful and turned this life long WWE fan into an even bigger follower. Of note, Mr. Sandow also took time to record some cool video messages for a few kids that had submitted questions to me.

The interview is posted below and I just wanted to give a shout out to Damien’s charity of choice, Kosair.Org, who protect the health and well-being of children by providing financial support for clinical services, research, pediatric healthcare education, and child advocacy. I hope you enjoy the interview as much as I had conducting it!

Thanks again to the WWE, Canadian Tire Centre and Damien Sandow for helping create an amazing experience.

Who Knew Apple Picking Could Be This Fun?

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We packed up the kids last weekend for our annual apple picking trip to Mountain Orchards. For whatever reason, I always seem to forget how much fun this excursion is for the whole family but am quickly reminded upon arrival each year. I think it’s because the thought of picking apples off trees isn’t all that exciting, but when you add in the hay pit, park, giant mound of dirt, flea market, mini donuts, tractor rides and corn mazes, you have the makings of a perfect day!

My other favourite thing about the day trip is that it allows me to work on my photography skills and that is the underlying purpose of this post today. I don’t have a great camera but someone once told me that the photographer is far more important than the camera, so I’ll just believe that. Anyway, here are some of our adventures from our day at Mountain Orchards!

A Rare Smile While Looking At The Camera!

A Rare Smile While Looking At The Camera!

His Favourite Part!

His Favourite Part!

Warning, People With Allergies. This Is A Lot Of Hay!

Warning, People With Allergies. This Is A Lot Of Hay!

Cuteness Overload!

Cuteness Overload!

Giant Mound Of Dirt, As Promised!

Giant Mound Of Dirt, As Promised!

Stop That Apple Thief!!!

Stop That Apple Thief!!!

Obligatory Family Selfie

Obligatory Family Selfie

Bottom line is that we had a great time and can’t wait to find something to do with all the apples we picked! I’m seeing pie in my future!

Children Who Inspire ~ The Charity Group

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I had so much fun with my last “Children Who Inspire” interview that I’ve decided to make it a recurring feature on the blog. I find it fascinating and inspiring to see how many children there are out there who are taking an active interest in making the world a better place, and I think it’s important to share their stories. This growing group of young change agents give me hope for the future and more importantly, inpsire me to want to make a difference with my actions.

I was excited to have the opportunity to interview a Canadian duo who are doing their part to give back. Jasmine (10) & Grace (8) are the co-founders of a local club called, The Charity Group. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because I had previously featured The Charity Group in one of my early posts, so I was excited to get a chance to see what they were all about. Here are their answers to my questions, along with some commentary from one of the parents.

CD: What made you want to start “The Charity Group”?

Jasmine – I had been collecting funds or food for my birthday for several years (i.e. 7th birthday – money was collected for CHEO; 8th birthday – money collected for Japanese Earthquake Relief; 9th birthday – collected food for Kanata Food Bank) with some success. One day I asked my dad how to do more. He mentioned that there were groups of people that raised money for charities and that maybe a way to raise or do more. I thought this sounded like a good idea and began typing a letter to start my own Group. I asked Grace to help out and we went from there.

Grace – It sounded like a good idea. Helping the neighbourhood and community is fun.

CD: How did you get others to sign up?

We made a sign up sheet with some cool visuals. We went around to specific kids in the neighbourhood (aged 5 to 12; and they had to be able to walk to our houses). We asked these kids to join; Grace and Jasmine each memorized a specific portion of their recruitment speech. Most kids were eager to participate and the age range expanded as other neighbourhood kids asked to be involved. Parents were also asked/encouraged to join as support and to assist in harnessing the kids’ energy.

CD: What has been your favourite experience with it so far?

The Cancer Carnival of 2012, by far. It was fun, we raised the most money of all our events, there were lots of activities, we met new kids and we had fun hanging with the other Charity Group members.

CD: What is next for your group?

We are planning on building bird houses/feeders for the Wild Bird Centre.
We have a Christmas Show to be done at a local Senior’s home for this holiday season.
We are designing a Hallowe’en Safety Brochure – that will be on the blog; and handed out to the neighbourhood.

CD: What advice can your give to other kids who want to start a similar project in their school/neighbourhood?

For a neighbourhood group:
a. Find like-minded people to help out.
b. Go out to recruit from the neighbourhood and ask your target group if they want to join.
c. Be ready for kids/people to say “No”.
d. Start with small projects and local, which can be very visible and easy to do- like cleaning the park
e. As you get momentum with finishing your initial, smaller, local projects, you may begin to “Think Big”. At this time, you will need to involve parents as support and to assist in logistics.
f. Be mindful of the school year – it is easier to get together in the summer, because there are less activities being done by group members. During school time, sports, dance, music, tutoring, other lessons, tournaments, competitions, family time may take away from when meetings or events can be held. Not everyone may be able to do or go to everything.
g. Send out communication to the group regularly (i.e. minutes from last meeting; follow up from ideas discussed). Be sure to include parent emails to this communique.

CD: What are your long and/or short term goals with your philanthropy?

Short Term
Keep on using birthdays to raise awareness of charities or events
Do annual cleaning of the neighbourhood play areas
Explore how to interact with community more (hospital visits or senior home visits).
Explore technology – use of blog, Youtube, making a video.

Long Term (5-10 years)
The girls were quite struck about what they may be doing when they were 16-19 years old! They both began thinking of jobs and or school.
The Charity Group may still be going – the hope is that younger kids would be continuing the torch – maybe two portions, an older and a younger group membership?
Exploring other options of doing more things outside of the Charity Group – like volunteering at a shelter.
Using work experience to spread the word – doing something with part-time work?
Continue to be involved with the neighbourhood, but looking to expand impact.

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I want to say a huge thank you to the girls for taking the time to answer all my questions and want them to know that I am inspired by what they are doing. My hope in putting this feature together is that it will inspire others to get their kids involved in making their community a better place to live. Great work, girls!!

Dad Blogs Exposed! ~ Always Home And Uncool

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This week on Dad Blogs Exposed, I had the chance to talk with Kevin McKeever from the blog, Always Home and Uncool. Kevin’s stylings can also be found over at Dadcentric. I had the opportunity to meet and share a stage with Kevin at this year’s Dad 2.0 Summit in Houston, Texas and was once again blown away by the kindness of a stranger. Kevin is effortlessly funny, or at least it seems effortless, and I’m glad to now call him a friend. Unless he takes the effortless thing the wrong way, in which case he was a fine “former” friend.

CD: Why did you start blogging?

KM: After being laid off from my job, I had to do something to prove to my wife that I didn’t spend all day at home surfing the Internet for revealing photos of Kari Byron from “Mythbusters.”

That and, after not writing regularly for six months for the first time in 20-odd years when I was a reporter or corporate communicator, I just felt the need to start putting something into words again for my own sanity’s sake.

CD: What can people expect from your blog? Do you have a specific goal or do you write whatever you feel?

KM: I mostly tell tales about my goofy self — as a dad, as a guy, as a man befuddled by the world around him. Sometimes I have a fleeting celebrity encounter, sometimes I shed a tear or two, but mostly it’s about me trying to make sense of my wife, kids and dog.

CD: What has been your biggest challenge as a father?

KM: Avoiding the ol’ “well, back in my day …” routine with my kids. Civilization advances and changes, and you can’t live in your past no matter how comfortable it may be. I try to adapt and grow with my kids not because I want to be the cool, hip dad but because I want to stay involved in their world. Nevertheless, I never bothered figuring out all that Pokemon stuff when my boy was young. What the heck was that about?

CD: What one piece of advice can you give to a new Dad?

KM: I’ll give you two.

a) Don’t panic. If you panic, all is lost. Keep your wits about you and you’ll survive it.
b) Don’t listen to me.

CD: Do you have any long term goals for your site?

KM: Dude, I don’t even have plans for lunch. Speaking of which – Hooters?

CD: What is your social media weapon of choice and why?

KM: I’m on Facebook because that where I seem to best be able to keep up with the people I care about. I have Google+ account which I’m starting to use some, and Instagram is nice, but I tend to post all that stuff on FB now that it’s integrated. Pinterest? No interest, but that’s me. Your mileage may vary.

CD: How has blogging affected your life?

KM: I’ve meet some truly great and generous people, online and IRL, through blogging. The support my family has received from complete strangers and Internet-only acquaintances whenever we have sought help to raise awareness or money to support research into Juvenile Myositis, a rare autoimmune disease my daughter has had since age 2, has been heartwarming and, frankly, unbelievable.

Huge thanks to Kevin for taking time out of his busy schedule to answer the questions. I hope you’ll take some time to check out his site and say hi for me. See you next week!

The Time I Decided Not To Be Unhealthy Anymore

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I have always been an athletic person. I played hockey and fastball at high enough levels to consider myself an athlete and assumed that I would be playing these sports well into my later years, as my father had. Life, it would seem, had different plans for me though. Six years removed from fastball and way too many years out of hockey and the only sports I excel in these days are of the fantasy variety. In my last few years as a ball player, my nickname was “Gutsy”, and that had nothing to do with courage and everything to do with a widening mid section. Oh yeah, did I mention that I make jokes to cover for the fact that I am so badly out of shape that I am actually afraid to do physical activity for fear of dying? Yeah, there’s also that.

I dusted off the scale the other day, as I sometimes do, and stared blankly at the numbers 203.2 looking up at me. This isn’t how I had pictured my 30’s, not by a long shot. Most days, I am so exhausted by simple, every day tasks that I barely have the energy to get off the couch. What little energy I do have goes directly to my children, which is great, but that means things like my marriage, work and website have all suffered.

Well, all of that is about to change. I’m tired of saying I’m going to get healthy, only to find a plethora of reasons to quit the gym and go back to my old Dairy Queen eating, pop guzzling, eating a whole box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch in one sitting (not proud of this one) ways. I have now been to the gym for 6 straight days and have started Weight Watchers point tracking in hopes of getting healthier and living longer for my family and myself. I am 100% committed to creating a better me and won’t stop until I get there.

As I write this, I am thinking of how good those sweet, sweet Dairy Queen Blizzard’s are and am in the process of chaining myself to my bed with Duct Tape over my mouth just in case the Blizzard somehow tries to dance it’s way in. It’s going to be a long journey and I’m going to bore you with every detail about it until you can’t take it anymore. I’ve joined a group of my fellow Dad bloggers as well, in an effort they are calling “Chuck The Chunk”, so it’ll be nice to feel like it is a team effort!

Now, I believe we were talking about Dairy Queen…..

Dad Blogs Exposed! ~ Puzzling Posts

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Welcome to this week’s edition of Dad Blogs Exposed! I had the pleasure of interviewing a fellow Canadian Dad and new friend of mine, Mike Reynolds, from the blog, Puzzling Posts. Mike and I were members of the same Movember team that crushed it last year and are working together again on this year’s campaign. He’s a great guy with a good heart and I’m excited to be able to share his story with you all.

CD: Why did you start blogging?

MR: I actually started blogging as a way to get myself writing more. Puzzling Posts originally had nothing to do with parenting, it was a spot I tried to write Stephen Leacock inspired stories on. For the first year I write a new story every day for 365 days and once that project ended I let the writing slide for a bit. then came kids and I found all kinds of new material. My girls inspire me to be creative and keep me young at heart which makes blog writing extremely fun.

CD: Can you talk about how you got started with writing children’s stories and maybe share a couple of your favourites?

MR: I’ve always loved writing stories but for the longest time I’d take weird news headlines and create some piece of fiction around them. Last Christmas my wife bought me a set of writing prompt cards that showed a bunch of robots. One night my oldest daughter and I came up with a story about one and the idea of bedtime stories was created. Since then, we’ve stopped needing the prompts and have written stories about giants who play hopscotch and soccer playing dinosaurs as well as many others.

One of the highlights of my story writing career came when I got feedback from an elementary school teacher who mentioned her class had read my stories and were inspired to write their own afterwards. That’s why I write–to inspire kids to be creative.

CD: What has been your biggest challenge as a father?

MR: I get most frustrated with myself when I find myself telling my kids “I’ll do things later.” Being tired is part of being a parent so I don’t feel bad for sometimes running out of gas, but I want to take advantage of every moment my kids want to play with me so I don’t regret it when down the line they don’t want to play with me any more. I also cry a lot and it’s hard to hide tears at work sometimes.

CD: What one piece of advice can you give to a new Dad?

MR: Treat every smile like it’s the last one you’ll ever see and then work as hard as you can to find the next one anyway. Also, the immense love you feel the first time you see your child somehow only grows over time, take advantage of every moment you get to sit down and talk to your kids. Building a relationship and an environment where they feel they can talk to you about anything is essential.

CD: Do you have any long term goals for your site?

MR: At this point I’m very happy writing our bedtime stories and the adventures we go on and I don’t think that part is anything I’d ever give up. It’s also the bedtime stories I’d like to grow seeing how they’re what sets me apart from a lot of other smaller sites like mine and because it’s also something attached to active parenting. If the stories weren’t being written with my children I’m not sure I’d be as interested in them finding a wider audience.

At the same time, I’d love for my blog to turn into a resource for parents to turn to when they’re looking for an honest review of some simple family activities. I like reviewing places and things for families because in addition to being able to help out other families, it gives me the chance to get my kids doing all kinds of fun things like visiting toy stores and pumpkin patches etc.

CD: What is your social media weapon of choice and why?

MR: Part of my day job is monitoring the many social media channels of my organization and with them Twitter is the best tool because of the quick interactions with our audiences. I assumed that would carry over to my own site and I certainly do love Twitter for Puzzling Posts but Facebook has been the far greater driver of traffic and engagement with others. I’d love to grow my Facebook page more so I can stop annoying my friends with my daily doses of Puzzling Posts.

CD: How has blogging affected your life?

MR: What I’ve liked about blogging is that it’s made me do things I normally wouldn’t do. I’m not a crafty person but I’ve started a feature on my site where me and the kids work on crafts we’ve found on Pinterest. There’s a good chance these Puzzling Pinterest Projects would never have come about were it not for the blog.

I’ve also always struggled with thinking I’m worse at parenting than others because sometimes (a lot of the time) I find parenting difficult. But it’s not me, it’s that parenting is just damn hard. I like sharing this with others just in case they’re somehow under the impression it’s just them struggling.

Really, blogging is my way of releasing creativity.

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That’s it for this week on Dad Blogs Exposed. Thanks to Mike for his time and I hope you’ll check back in next week for a new Dad and a new story.

Mike and Charlie and Leah

Win 4-100 Level Tickets To See WWE Smackdown in Ottawa on Sept 10th!

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The WWE is coming to town and I’ve got your hookup right here! I’m giving away 4-100 Level tickets to see WWE Smackdown Live at the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa, September 10th at 7pm.

WWE fans will witness a massive double main event as WWE Champion Randy Orton will put the title on the line against Daniel Bryan, while RVD will team-up with the ’World’s Largest Athlete”, The Big Show, and the ’World’s Strongest Man”, Mark Henry, in a six-man tag team match against The Shield.

Also in action:

World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio
Dolph Ziggler
The Wyatt Family
’Mr. Money in the Bank” Damien Sandow
and more!

All you have to do to enter is leave a comment on this post, answering the following question: WHO IS YOUR FAVOURITE WWE STAR (PAST OR PRESENT)?

Good Luck!! Contest closes Sunday, Sept 1st at noon.

Congrats to the winner, David Dickenson!!

Talking “Family Matters” With CJAD800

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I have been fortunate enough to have a monthly spot on the “Family Matters” segment with CJAD800’s Ric and Suzanne. This month I had the chance to talk about the tightrope that is children’s activities, as well as my recent experience where I had to explain why it’s okay for my son to want to do gymnastics. As always, I appreciate the opportunity to have my voice heard and always have a great time on the show. You can listen to my segment below.

What Is Your Favourite Subway Sub?

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My family are subaholics. You know those nights where you just don’t feel like cooking, or you have 40 minutes to eat and get the kids to soccer practice? Instead of hot dogs or PB&J, we always pop over to Subway for a quick bite. I mostly blame Happy Gilmore for this obsession. I also have to admit that I get unreasonably excited when I go to an event or party and see the Subway sandwich platters on the tables. Whatever, you like weird things too!

We all have our go-to subs and I’ve always wondered if other people were the same way. The kids split a meatball sub, my wife gets a tuna, extra mayo and I am a chicken bacon ranch kind of guy. Oh yeah, and cookies. Always, cookies. That said, I put the question to you guys…

What is your go-to sub from Subway?

Cheers!

Disclosure

Dad Blogs Exposed! ~ Fodder 4 Fathers

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Dad Blogs Exposed continues this week as I interview fellow Canadian, Adam Dolgin, from the blog, Fodder 4 Fathers. I recently had the opportunity to meet Adam at an event in Brampton and can tell you that he looks much better on the internet than he does in person. Of course, I keed! Here’s what Adam had to say about fatherhood and blogging.

CD: Why did you start blogging?

AD: Truth? I was bored. Not a lot to do when you’re sitting on the couch holding a sleeping 8-month-old around the dinner hour. Sure, you can watch the news, but that will only make you cynical. So I was playing on my Blackberry and thought I’d look in to this whole blog thing and I started one called “The Evil That You Know” (which is better than the evil that you don’t know). But I had no clue what I wanted to write about, so I wrote about what I knew, or was learning about, and that was Fatherhood. Changed the name to Fodder 4 Fathers a few weeks later and the rest is history.

CD: What can people expect from your blog? Do you have a specific goal or do you write whatever you feel?

AD: Honesty, open-mindedness, sarcasm, humor, some great links about parenting, and a lot of reality. Mostly, I like that people can’t say that I write the same thing day in and day out. I mix it up a lot and when people think I’m one way I’ll throw them for a loop by tackling something a totally different way than I had before. In the beginning I was planning out posts days ahead, now I just post about things that bother me, or I respond to things I’ve read, or ideas come to me out of thin air. Anything is fair game for me. And everything is good “Fodder” for conversation. Personally, I write best when I’m pissed off about something, and those are the posts my fans tend to like best too.

CD: What has been your biggest challenge as a father?

AD: I like the challenge of fatherhood, but it’s not really a challenge to me, yet. I think I’ve very well suited to parenting infants and toddlers. Diapers, screaming, tantrums and sleepless nights don’t bother me. I’m more afraid of the tween and teen years. I think everything my kids do now is funny, but when my kid comes home telling me she got kicked out of hockey for spearing some other girl, I’m going to be pretty pissed that I can’t get my deposit back. But I guess if there is a challenge for me being an active dad to a 3-year-old and an 8-month-old it’s getting both kids in to the car by myself when I want to go to McDonald’s on a Sunday morning while my wife sleeps in. Actually, the real problem is getting them and my coffee out of the car when we get back home.

CD: What one piece of advice can you give to a new Dad?

AD: “GO BACK!” Sorry, that was Ione Skye’s speech from Say Anything. Actually, my advice to new dads is pretty straight-forward – if you want to be an equal partner in the parenting of your child, do it. Don’t wait for someone to invite you to do it, just do it. Read a parenting book, change a diaper, feed a bottle, take the kid for a stroll by yourself and get a coffee. Take your rightful place in your child’s life. Often parenting is a battle of supremacy for many couples from the beginning, especially as moms want to take the lead with an infant, but don’t let her. Tell her you want to be an equal partner in raising your kids (if that’s what you want— and you should), and work out between the two of you how to split it up in a way that works to both of your strengths.

CD: Do you have any long term goals for your site?

AD: I went from a small fatherhood blog to a full-service website full of resources and advice for a wide variety of parenting issues for both fathers and mothers. Was it planned? Hell yes. My website is far more serious than my blog, or my Facebook presence for that matter, and I always wanted to turn it in to a place where parents could get real answers to real problems without any fluff. Webinars and online courses will be coming in the future and we’ll be writing a book or two as well. I have it all mapped out on a piece of paper that I keep in my sock drawer (and in a big file on my laptop desktop). But I’m always willing to change as the wind does. Who knows what the future really holds. All I know is right now I’m helping people talking about a subject that I love and making some extra pocket change off of it talking about products I liked regardless. It’s a good start. When all is said and done, I just want to help people find the information they actually need without having to read through a lot of BS. If I can do it and make a living, well, that’s would be nice too.

CD: What is your social media weapon of choice and why?

AD: Facebook! Hands down. I like how it allowed me to create a community and doesn’t force me to talk in a limited number of characters on each post. I like to talk, and sometimes I have a lot to say. That’s not to say I don’t have all my Facebook posts connected to my Twitter or LinkedIn feeds. I just use Facebook as my home base. It’s where I’ve been able to grow a very large following of faithful fans and make a lot of page friends who support me and help my little idea – that parents can talk as equals- grow.

CD: How has blogging affected your life?

AD: One day I was a guy with 30 people, all close friends and family, reading my stuff. Two years later I’m a guy who has 18,000 people reading my stuff and my name is all over the Internet linked to newspaper articles, National magazines, podcasts, corporate campaigns and hundreds of blog posts. The other day my website was ranking 2nd on Google under Websites for Fathers. And the coolest thing is people actually come to me for help with their parenting problems, not because I’m an expert, but because I have created a community of very smart, and very knowledgeable parents who have been there. They trust me to get them help, and to keep their secrets, and that’s something that I never expected when I started this whole thing. It really took on a life of its own and its taking me in directions I never thought I would go… but I’m that F4F guy now. That involved dad guy. That guy who talks about making the world a better place for our kids. And it’s a pretty cool thing to be. Sure, I’m also hated by a lot of people for speaking my mind on a myriad of topics, but at least it has people talking about them. Having a blog gave me a voice (an International one) I would have never had otherwise.

A big thanks to Adam for taking the time to answer all my questions. Don’t forget to stop by next Wednesday to read about another amazing Dad!

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