Share and Inspire With #GoodNewsMonday – Canada Day Edition!

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GNM Can Day

Happy Canada Day!!! I don’t know how active ‘Good News Monday’ will be today but I thought I’d put it up anyway, just in case. Please feel free to share your Good News stories below! As usual, I’ll kick it off.

Other than the fact that today is one of my favourite holidays of the year, my band has been practicing more regularly and have been focusing on writing on our music. There’s no crazy rock star dreams here, but there is a real sense of accomplishment when you finish writing and recording a song. The goal is to eventually have enough songs to put an album together and I feel like we are well on our way there.

That’s all for me. What Good News do you have today?!

Drum Kit Band

A Quick And Easy Canada Day Craft

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Oh Canada Craft

Hello and Happy Canada Day Weekend! Just in case you were looking for something quick and easy to do with the kids, this Canadian Flag hand print craft would make great fridge material or could even be the perfect gift for Mom, Dad, Grandma or Grandpa.

It’s extremely simple. Here’s what you need: Card Stock Paper; Red, Washable Paint; Paint Brush; Kids Hands; Printed Lyrics To “O Canada”; Glue.

QUICK AND EASY STEPS

Cut out a piece of card stock and place it in the center of a full sheet of card stock. Have the kids paint the outer edges of the full sheet, in red paint. Once done, paint the child’s hand and press down in the center of the painted card stock. Let the paint dry, and then let the child glue the lyrics to “O Canada” on the back side.

That’s it, you are done! I hope you all have an amazing Canada Day!!

Blissdom Canada: Inspiration Is Waiting For You

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Blissdom Canada

When I showed up at the Blissdom Canada conference last year, I had been blogging for about 8 months. I still had the feeling that I had been duped by my friend, Shannon (zchamu), who said that there would be plenty of men at the conference and that I NEEDED to go. She ended up being right about one of those two things…

It didn’t take a rocket scientist to notice that I was outnumbered about 20:1 in the Women:Men department, and most of the men in attendance were well established bloggers and media personalities, so it was just a tad intimidating. That said, I made a decision before walking into the room at Blissdom, that I would not accept fear as a reason to not get the most out of my experience. So, I said hi to almost everyone I wanted to say hi to, I asked questions at my round tables, I met new and amazing people, I dressed in a super hero costume, I did interpretive dance, I sang karaoke as loudly as I possibly could and I walked into a room where I was in the clear minority, and pretended like I was just like everybody else, which I kind of was. All of those things combined, helped me to leave Blissdom Canada with a completely new outlook on blogging and what I wanted to be, both as a blogger and as a person.

Seriously, they are not paying me to say any of this. Even as new and inexperienced as I was, the take aways from Blissdom Canada have set me on a path that I could have never imagined when I started this little blog. I get to cover kids shows & music festivals, work with amazing companies and bloggers, raise money for charity, help people in need, do TV and radio interviews and now I can add speaking at conferences to my list of accomplishments. All of this started at Blissdom Canada, where I learned to have the confidence in my abilities that I desperately needed to try some of the crazy things I have done.

Now I ask you, other than money, why are you not sure if Blissdom Canada is for you? Are you shy? Think you are too new? Do you get hives because Tanis “Attack Of The Redneck Mommy” Miller might be standing right next to you and you don’t want her to notice how sweaty and unreasonably excited you are to meet her? Are you intimidated by Erica Ehm and her Yummy Mummy Club superstardom? I was, but guess what? Just say hi. They are incredibly kind people and I promise you they won’t bite. Or at least they didn’t bite me… There are so many excuses not to come but I hope my story is something that you can relate to, because you’ll write me a thank you letter once you get home from it.

Let me go one step further. Here is my offer and promise to you. If at any point, you get overwhelmed, lonely, nervous, shy, sweaty or any other thing else that happens to us for some unfair, no good reason, I invite you to come and hang out with me until it subsides. I’ve been there and understand how tough it can be to be the new kid on the block. Plus, I had some great people help me out on my first trip to Blissdom and want to pay that kindness forward. So, tweet me, DM me, FB me, find me, and say hi. Don’t let nerves ruin your experience.

And, finally, Men of the blogging/social media/brand world! This is NOT just a conference for women. In fact, I can’t think of one time where I was made to feel unwelcome or where the content was completely woman centric. So get off your butts and join me at this thing. If not, I am going to return to Blissdom Canada again this year, more confident that ever, and I am going to be one of the few guys again and I will get all the guy spotlight and …. Actually, on second thought, maybe you guys should sit this one out.

Captain Caffeine! At Your Service!

Captain Caffeine! At Your Service!

I Love You 200

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Love You 200

My wife asked my son how much he loved her the other day, and he answered, “I Love You 200!“ We both looked at each other, and then he followed it up with, “That’s a lot”. I spent the last couple of days wondering what that 200 could possibly represent, and these are my best guesses.

* 200 Skylanders. (This is his favourite game and 200 new characters would certainly translate into plenty of love.)

* 200 episodes of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. (His favourite TV show. We are both getting tired of watching the same episodes, so 200 new ones would be amazing!)

* 200 cookies. (Should be pretty self explanatory, no? This is something we can get get behind.)

* 200 play dates. (What can I say, this kid loves playing with his friends.)

* $200. (To a 5 year old, $200 probably seems like a million. That’s a lot of love!)

* 200 straight hours of Game of Thrones! (Okay, that one’s for me, but still, amazing!)

* 200 extra days of vacation from work. (**Drool**)

* 200 Pizzas. (This is both my son’s and my favourite food. Just the thought of this gives me the excited goosebumps)

* 200 X’s and O’s. (This is what I hope it stands for. There is no amount of pizza in the world that I would trade in exchange for this one.)

And, there you have it. I really have no clue what he was talking about, but in the end it doesn’t really matter because if he says “I Love You 200” is a lot of love, I have to take his word for it. In all honesty, I think he is smarter than I give him credit for, and this whole thing was an elaborate subliminal plan to get kid points, so he can work his way to actually obtaining the 200 Skylanders he covets. Well, guess what? I will totally take that!

My Big Music Fest Experience; Or, Celebrities Rubbing My Belly

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Big Music Fest

There was a point at Big Music Fest this past weekend, where I was trekking through the pouring rain, quite literally soaked to the bone, and all I could think about was how awesome it was that Jakob Dylan and The Wallflowers were on stage, performing One Headlight. In fact, that’s kind of a metaphor for the whole day. It didn’t matter what curve balls could possibly be thrown our way, because music always wins.

I was invited to attend Big Music Fest, in order to be one of their featured bloggers. At first, I thought it was a joke, because I would have gladly paid for the opportunity to see some of my favourites acts, such as the Counting Crows, the Wallflowers and Hedley. I giddily accepted the offer, sent the kids to Nana and Papa’s house and scooped my wife up for a, much needed, weekend getaway.

I really wanted to provide an unbiased review of the festival, but other than the rain, which they had no control over, I couldn’t really find any flaws. I guess if I had to pick a negative thing, the walk from the parking lot was kind of far, but I could definitely use the exercise. Otherwise, the bands were all amazing, I had an unbelievably good ‘steak on a bun’, and, I got to hang out with some of my favourite online personalities, like Trina from Life’s a Blog, Christella from Crawl the Line, Candace and Eric Alper, and their always inpiring 10 year old daughter, Hannah, from CallMeHannah.Ca.

The Big Music Fest Blog Crew

The Big Music Fest Blog Crew

To save you the time of reading a million more paragraphs, I have decided to bullet form my highlights from the festival and will shoot some pictures down below as well.

* Seeing The Wallflowers live for the first time was a cool experience for me. One Headlight is one of the first songs I ever covered, so they have a place close to my heart.

* Being allowed in the photo pit for the first two songs of the Counting Crows set was an experience that I will never be able to put into proper words. To be within an arms reach of Adam Duritz during “Round Here” is something I will never forget.

* Mr. Jones. That is all.

* We had the opportunity to meet Hedley backstage and to say it was awkward would be an understatement. Imagine 20 teenage girls and one 34 year old dude waiting patiently for their arrival. Luckily for me, the guys had a sense of humour about it and we ended up taking a funny picture.

* While waiting backstage, the guys from Bleeker Ridge stopped by to sign autographs and take some photos. They were really cool guys and you could tell that they appreciate every single one of their fans, which is so important.

* Teenage girls crying everywhere. I’m pretty sure that I was the only one who didn’t cry after meeting Jacob and the Hedley crew. That includes my wife, who I have never seen so flustered in my entire life. Very adorable.

* Being in the photo pit for Hedley wasn’t as defining of a moment for me as the Counting Crows, but it was still incredibly amazing.

* My favourite part of the Hedley show was when Jacob mentioned that some band members had birthdays coming up and gave the fans 30 seconds to throw as much stuff as they wanted on to the stage. It was hilarious to see them dodging everything from pennies and sunglasses to chicken fingers and underwear.

Jacob Hoggard HedleyJakob Dylan Wallflowers
 

I have to say thank you and give a huge kudos to everyone who made Big Music Fest the outstanding event that it was. I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen a collection of music that incredible, and all in one day. Whether it’s as a blogger or a spectator, we will definitely be back to Big Music Fest next year! Rock on!

Jacob Still Hasn't Paid For The Lucky Belly Rub!

Jacob Still Hasn’t Paid For The Lucky Belly Rub!

Putting Sailun Tires To The Ultimate Test

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PTPA Sailun Tires Event

I recently had the opportunity to participate as a PTPA Ambassador for Sailun Tires. Part of that program was the chance to test out the tires at an event on a closed track at the Powerade Centre in Brampton. Not being a tire expert, I was skeptical about whether or not I would be able to tell the difference between the Sailun’s and the competing tires, but I surprised even myself.

The day started with a presentation from the Sailun team, where they explained that their goal is to provide a product for families that combines Safety and Performance for an amazing Value to them. As someone who is very interested in keeping his family safe, especially on the road, I was impressed to hear the lengths Sailun Tires were going to, to ensure that safety.

Next we were off to the closed course, with our race car drivers, Travis and Matt. There were two cars with Sailun Tires and two with competitor tires and we weren’t told which was which before we took our test drives. After each round, we would fill out a survey about how we felt the tires handled. In my opinion, there was a massive difference in the two different tire sets, and as I found out at the end, I chose the Sailun tires as the better of the two after each of my 4 runs. After finding this out, I was impressed at how well the Sailun’s handled the course, while making very little noise on the hard turns around the pylons.

In the end, after my experience on the closed course and judging by my test results, I would definitely trust Sailun Tires with my family’s safety. And if my endorsement isn’t enough, we managed to flag down an ice cream truck as the event was coming to a close and you can imagine my surprise to see that the truck was sporting, what else, but Sailun Tires. There you have it, Canadian Dad and Ice Cream Trucks both trust Sailun Tires.

Just a couple more items to get to. I’ll get to the amazing giveaway, but first, I decided to shoot a video of race car driver, Matt Pritiko, as he took a couple of us on a very fast test drive of the closed course. I am the one giggling like Beavis and Butthead for the entire ride. Not. Scared.

On to the good stuff! One lucky reader is going to win a Grand Prize of a set of Sailun Tires. There are also 3 runner up prizes of a $100 gift card to Petro Canada. You can enter using the Rafflecopter form below. Please read rules and regs prior to entering.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: I received compensation for my participation in the Trust Sailun Ambassador program.

Share and Inspire With #GoodNewsMonday – 2nd Edition

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Monday

I ran an impromtu “Good News Friday” thread on Facebook and Twitter a couple weeks ago and it was really inspiring to see everyone sharing their good news for the week. Considering Friday is usually already a good day, I decided to move the “Good News” event to Monday, where more people could usually use a pick me up.

The concept is easy. Every Monday, pop on over here and share your good news stories in the comments. I have already been inspired by reading all your good news to date and can’t wait to see where this thing goes. Without further ado, I’ll kick things off!

I was lucky enough to spend all day Saturday at Big Music Fest in Belleville and had the very cool opportunity to see the Counting Crows perform, as well as meeting Hedley and spending quality time with my wife and some of my blogging friends. It was an amazing weekend and something I will remember forever.

Now it’s your turn! What good news do you have to share with everyone this week? Leave your story in the comments below and have a great week!

Adam Duritz Counting CrowsChris Hedley

My Thoughts On The HP Envy X2 Tablet/Laptop Hybrid

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HP ENVY x2

I’ve been testing out the HP ENVY x2 tablet/laptop and the HP ENVY 120 e-All-in-One printer and what follows is my very untechnological review of these devices. I say that because I often read reviews that are filled with fancy terminology that I just don’t understand. I figure if I get confused by all that, then there must be others who feel the same way I do. That said, I am going to speak to functionality of these devices as they related to me.

I have never owned a tablet before but after learning how to use Windows 8 on my smart phone, I felt I was up to the challenge of navigating the ENVY x2. The first thing I noticed about the tablet/laptop hybrid, is that it is very comfortable to carry around. I do a lot of my writing in local coffee shops and I immediately noticed the difference between the ENVY x2 and clunky mess that is my regular laptop. It might sound trivial but there is a lot to be said for comfort and personal space, especially when you are writing on small cafe tables.

Although I’ve heard complaints about the Windows 8 functionality, I happen to think it’s great to be able to slide the screen and customize the live tiles any way I want. I especially enjoyed the Netflix tab and the HD touch screen made watching the new season of Arrested Development that much more exciting. I think if you give Windows 8 a chance, you’ll see how cool it really can be.

One of my favourite things about the HP ENVY x2 is the battery life. On my recent road trip, I got almost 11 hours of use out of it before I needed to recharge and as someone who travels to conferences now, I can tell that this is going to become one of my favourite features. Another thing I loved is how easy it is to convert between tablet and laptop, with my only real complaint being that there is no USB port on the tablet portion of the device.

Overall, I loved the sleek design of the HP ENVY x2 and most of the features it offers. I am learning to really like the Windows 8 design as well, but wish there were more apps available for it. As a blogger, this device suits my needs for writing on the go and that’s all I can ask for, so I am incredibly happy with it. The added bonus of the HP ENVY 120 e-All-in-One printer has been amazing for the quick printing my photos and invoices as well.

Disclosure: I received compensation for my participation in the HP Loves Dads program.

Get Ready For Microsoft Canada’s #SummerSwitch Program

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Nokia Lumia 920

It’s Baaaack! Due to the great feedback from the Windows Phone “Holiday Swap”, Microsoft Canada has decided to start up a “Summer Switch” program. They have asked me to nominate two bloggers to swap out their smartphones for the Nokia Lumia 920, to see how they like the Windows Phone’s functionality.

Before we get to the nominations, though, I have a few updates from my final review of the Holiday Swap Program. A recent update to the Twitter application has made the functionality a lot better and although there is still no Instagram available, the Windows Phone is slowly becoming my go to device. I was unable to completely switch over at the end of Holiday Swap due to contractual obligations, but that time is almost up and I have some decisions to make. In the meantime, I’ll be mentoring the new recruits and hopefully be learning a bit from them as well.

Now, with further ado, watch the video below to see which two bloggers I thought would be perfect fits for the Summer Switch Program.

There you have it. I’m happy to report that both Julie (Sober Julie) and Rebecca (A Little Bit Of Momsense) have accepted the challenge and can be found by tracking the #SummerSwitch tag on Twitter, or by following them on their blogs. Good Luck, Ladies! Have fun with it!

Share and Inspire With #GoodNewsMonday – 1st Edition

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Monday

There is a new feature on the blog this week and it’s one I am very excited about. I ran an impromtu “Good News Friday” thread on Facebook and Twitter last week and it was really inspiring to see everyone sharing their good news for the week. Considering Friday is usually already a good day, I decided to move the “Good News” event to Monday, where more people could usually use a pick me up.

The concept is easy. Every Monday, pop on over here and share your good news stories. I’m sure we’ll start off with a small crew but my hopes are that it will catch on and then we can use this tiny space to inspire each other to chase after all the good things we want in our lives. I know that it has already affected me a great deal and I’m excited to see where this thing goes.

Before we get to the sharing, I’ll kick things off with my good news stories for ther week. First, after living in my house for 4 years, we finally have a beautiful deck for our backyard and my house suddenly feels like a home. Also, I had the opportunity to do my first TV segment as Canadian Dad and the feedback has been overwhelming and extremely humbling, so, thank you. Finally, we spent Saturday afternoon at our community BBQ, where I got to pretend I was a superhero with my son.

Okay, now it’s your turn! Please take a moment to share your Good News stories in the comments section below and let’s get inspired together. If you feel so inclined, take to social media and use the hashtag #GoodNewsMonday to spread the good word!

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