And this is why she hates us.

Here, a little brighter for you.

Cricket Videos

Ok, I'm not really bringing the blog back, so don't get too terribly excited. But this may just be the easiest way for me to give mom videos of our new puppy. To bring anyone else up to speed who may wander on here: Mom's shitzu had puppies and Ro and I are now the proud owner of "Cricket."

I know its dark, but she was under the couch and I'm afraid the under-the-couch light was apparently burnt out. You'll get the idea. Its not a bad video, its artistic and you're just not sophisticated enough to appreciate it.

A Breath of Fresh Air...

So, its no secret that I lost interest in the blog for a while. It was just becoming more of a chore and less fun for me. I felt like I had to work to find something that everyone else would like, and then not really feeling a lot of discussion following in the comments and mostly it was just me in my own head with the issues.

We decided to try something new.

Something Fresh.

I think you will all enjoy...

Really Cool People

RE: Open Letter

Hmmmm...

I wonder if my post comes off differently to others than it does to me. So I'll try and clarify:

Setting time length limits: Good
Setting acceptable times of day: Good
Blocking Porn and Hate sites: Good

Wanting to be able to record every single action on the computer for later review: Bad. Secretly obtaining a child's email address information and recording all IM conversations is no different than planting a bug in their backpack and reading their diary. I don't think that hiding a wire in the lining of your kid's coat is good parenting (although I did have a customer openly admit he was buying a small voice recorder to plant in his wife's purse.)

And I never once even protested, except on the two occasions that the parents weren't letting their Jr. High Student use the internet AT ALL because "it is just too dangerous." Seriously, they should just get the kid a bubble.

Hope that helps clarify.

An Open Letter

Dear Parents,

I know the world is a scary place for your children, and I know you have some legitimate reasons to be worried about where they go and whom they talk to. But the world is a changing place, and you can't let your fear of the unknown cause you to put your child in a technological bubble. Yes, bad things can happen on those sites like "MySpace" and such, but banning them entirely is the equivalent of throwing out the baby with the bathwater. The internet is capable of bringing your children more information than ever before and they need to learn how to utilize that tool. Now it may sound like a good idea to you to make the internet password protected to the point that your 13 year old cannot access the internet AT ALL without your password. But this is because its you who is the obsessive, controlling, out-of-touch tool who doesn't see any use the internet for anything besides porn and never needs to learn because (let's face it) you're not going anywhere else in this world. But your children need to learn and its your job to learn with them.

So don't come to Best Buy and ask me how to get into your son's email so you can read everything he sends, and don't ask me how to make your computer somehow record everything that is done on the computer so you can retrace their exact steps while you were out too busy to be parenting, and don't ask me for a keystroke monitor that records everything done so that you can learn every password, read every IM, and review every website visited. This is the equivalent of buying your daughter a locked diary to which you have a spare key just so you can see her deepest thoughts.... that's creepy.

Instead let me propose this: TALK TO YOUR KIDS! If you're worried about talking to strangers on IM, make sure you know their friends and ask them about what they're up to (you don't need to know every word). There are decent programs out there to block porn sites and even restrict usage between certain hours and limit the hours per day. These are all acceptable. The internet is not a replacement for a babysitter like you use the TV for... you may actually have to get off your butt, learn a thing or two, and God forbid, talk to your child.

Love Rob.

"C" is for Cookie, it's good enough...

So Ro and I did Christmas Cookies this year.

I know, I know.... we're adorable. Its all her, trust me.
Anyways, this was quite an undertaking,
so I won't let you wait in suspense any longer.

Without Further Ado:









Can you guess which one's I'm responsible for?
Nope.









Ok... Maybe.








Nuh-uh. That's from the Cute One.








Ok, The Christmas Führer might be me.