Catharsis of the Bogue

Oddities, Profundities, Profanities and Dad Stuff

Category: pwc (Page 3 of 4)

A 6 Point Plan to Happiness

March 24, 2014 / / 2 Comments

I came up with this great title and then had to figure out how to fill it.  This is my list.  This is my 6 point plan for MY Happiness.  I think that anyone could benefit from it though.  They are in no specific order other than this is how they fell out of my head.

I would like to hear other thoughts on what makes you happy. If I get enough comments I will post a followup with plenty of links.

You have your assignment.  Go.  Read.  Comment.  Be Happy!

1. Be satisfied with yourself. I don’t know how many people actually strive for satisfied with themselves.  There is a huge push in the world to be better.  To be more.  To get into a better situation.  Why can’t we just be satisfied with ourselves?  For the most part I am satisfied with me.  There are things that I want to improve, but I could stay right where I am and be happy.

2.  Kids. I can’t imagine my life without my kids.  As frustrated and as mad as I can get at them, I wouldn’t trade them for anything on the planet.  There is such a content joy that can be had from seeing my kids ride their bikes outside, or play with the dog, or just run, laughing all of the time.  One of my all time favorite memories is of my son at 5 years old, running his heart out (by himself be it noted) pulling his red wagon and laughing like a madman.  I will never lose memories like that.  Knowing that he is that happy because I have given him the ability to run, the wagon to pull, and the house to run in front of , is happiness in itself.

3.  Hobbies Everyone needs something to do besides work.  I have a potload of interests and hobbies but my favorite is fishing.  I could fish all of the time.  Every day.  Most nights.  My wife is sick of me talking about fishing.  She forbade me from taking her fishing for her birthday yesterday.

4. Simplify There is great happiness that can be had from getting rid of the chaff that we accumulate in this life.  Philosophers have always talked about simplifying your life.  Buddhist monks teach themselves to let go of everything and become empty before they can be filled with enlightenment.   Being able to purge all of the crap we had saved over the years, all of the hand me downs for the house and all of the stuff we may “need” is wonderfully freeing.  Living without credit cards saved our butts during the recession of the past couple of years.  Didn’t really affect us at all, and good thing too, Dialysis and a kidney transplant are expensive enough without interest from a credit card.

5. Spouse/Significant Other I know this will be debated but one of the best things in my life is my wife.  I like to have her around, I like to be married.  In our religion we believe that we are forming eternal families here on Earth, and I have found the perfect person to do that with.  We get along well, we are not too hard on each other, and we work well together.  A cornerstone of my Happiness for sure.  We will have been married 12 years in May and dating for 17 in September!

6. Don’t miss the opportunity to teach others.    There is so much to give back that it is impossible to do so.  Take the opportunities as they come to teach others what you know.  Whether it be someone a world away over the internet being taught PHP code or your neighbor that you can teach to change the air filter on his lawn mower so it runs better.  If you can teach your kids to do something doesn’t it make you happy when they can repeat it?  Give as much as you can back to the universe.

This is not a complete and comprehensive post by any means.  Just go and be happy.

-Justin

How to write a killer fast blog post.

March 24, 2014 / / 6 Comments

Hey There!  Today i am actually going to give some instructions!  I know, but don’t unsubscribe yet.

Have you ever needed to crank out a blog post in record time?  I know I have.  The best solution for this situation is to Pre-Write a bunch of posts and keep them in Queue. Read this page for more.

I have squandered my 2 weeks worth of posts so I really need to re-write the pre-write.  But say you don’t have a post to get out, and you really want to.  Here is what I do.

Shut down everything on your browser except for your wordpress editor.  If you use something else like Word or the like just have that open.  Sit down and clear your mind.  What is the first thing that pops into your head?  Really, the first thing no matter how obscure.

My first thought?  Boondoggle.  Very obscure.  So now you have a topic be it boondoggle, purple unicorns, or wordpress plugin updates.  That is what you will roll with.

Don’t even write a title to this right now.  Go to the body of the post and start to write.  You only need to write 100 words or so in this stage.  If this were an infomercial I would say “In only 100 words you too can have a killer fast blog post!  Send 19.95 now for an amazing offer!  But wait there’s more!  Order now and have your order doubled only fo rthe price of shipping and processing!”

See what a good deal you are getting just for reading today?  Anyway, start with a short, modest goal.  You will be surprised at how quickly a post can bloom from 100 words to 5 or 600 or more!

Take your topic, (boondoggle) and write what you know about it.  Don’t research or even look at anything yet, just use your brain.  I could write,

Does anybody remember boondoggle? That wonderfully cheesy plastic cord that the camp counselors showed you how to weave into great keychains? How you just wanted more of the stuff to make more and more intricate keychains without caring what the ultimate point was? It was a lot of fun when I was younger and I rediscovered some of that when my daughter was getting her kidney transplant.

All of that in only 67 words. The most amazing part, I jut got boondoggle in my head, started writing about something simple from camp and ended up circling back around to my daughters transplant.  There is more to be written about that and in the end will probably have nothing to do with boondoggle.

Come up with the first title that hits your mind, the more snarky the better, like “Boondoggle and Transplants: Summer camp to lifesaving days”  Ok that is not very snarky but should bring a viewer or two.

So here is a quick blog post that I started on a whim and now it is topping 500 words.  It isn’t hard to start and get something going without a lost of work.

Of course, you can make it a detailed post and search the net for history of boondoggle and include patterns and theories and funny anecdotes from retired camp counselors about how boondoggle saved the camp when they wove fishing nets so they didn’t starve in the summer of ’87 or how they used that same net in ’88 to hold the dam back and save the camp from flooding.

But that is too much work.  Keep it simple.

Tomorrow is fiction Saturday!  The Man in the Hazy Suit continues!

Have a great weekend

-Justin

Dad’s Are SUPPOSED To Do Laundry!

March 24, 2014 / / 3 Comments

I am sure you are getting sick of me yapping on about how I am a stay at home dad.  What can I say, it’s what I do.

Today I want to address a topic that I have mentioned before in a short Migraines and Laundry series.  This post will be short and to the point.  Even if you do not stay home, Dad’s are supposed to help with laundry!  It probably will not even give you a migraine.

I don’t want to get preachy here and I don’t want to have a bunch of  “help your woman” posts but, there are some things that need to be addressed.  When I first got married I had hardly ever done laundry.  My mom did it all for us and I was darn near clueless on how to load and wash clothes.

There came a point in the first year of my marriage when both my wife and I were going to college and working where I had to learn to do laundry or go without clothes.  Simple as that.  And guess what, laundry is easy to learn and easy to do.  If I could only get the drive to fold I would be golden.  Don’t like to fold.

If you have kids, you will know what this next section is about.  If you don’t have kids and think you may have ahandle on Laundry, you are wrong.  No could be wrong, no maybe wrong, you are WRONG.  Kids, even little tiny ones, generate so much laundry you will wonder why your washing machine doesn’t say tilt at least once a week.

It just gets worse as they get older but your saving grace will be when they get 8 or 9 and can help with the laundry.  I have one there now.  And she is going to get all of the new baby’s clothes.  Bwahahahaaha!!

Seriously, laundry is a big task.  It is hard to keep up on.  It is never ending.  It is necessary.  If the machine is sitting idle, go throw in a load.

I’d love to hear your comments below!  after that sign up for my mailing list!

Thanks for reading

-Justin

10 ways for a guy to survive pregnancy

September 26, 2013 / / 6 Comments

My wife is currently pregnant with child #4.  No, we don’t know what it is and will not until it is born.  I thought that I would put out a list of ways for a guy to still be sane when the baby is born.

1. It is your fault, it will be your fault here and there for 9 months.  And a few after the baby comes.  The only thing to do is accept that fact and realize that it is mostly hormones talking.  And then follow #2.

2. Mutter under your breath.  Sure this is usually reserved for old men who are jaded with the world,but if you don’t enjoy sleeping in the bathtub or on the couch, keep your opinions to yourself and mutter to yourself.  And don’t worry, most people will think you are either crazy or realize you have a pregnant wife.

3. Blog.  Don’t make the mistake of making it a public blog that she will find though.  That one should be all roses and puppy dogs.  The secret hidden blog is full of rants and things that you would find yourself on the wrong end of a divorce and possible a libel suit if anyone found it.  DON’T LINK THESE TYPE OF BLOGS!!!

4. Give in.  Yes it is my fault, whatever you want dear, no you choose what to eat (she will throw it up anyway so she may as well choose), sure that sounds good, lets remodel the basement.  Of course I have too much stuff.  Let me get rid of some of that.  Ok maybe not that extreme but it is only 9 months, let her feel like she is winning.  You will be happier for it and wont end up on the couch again.

5. Whatever you do do not give into your Man ingrained logic.  My wife was confused on our second child (6 years ago).  Her birthday came around and she was saying how old she was and I piped up with no you are (1 year older)!  I STILL have not heard the end of “You aged me two years in one year!”  Apparently it was a big deal.  I keep defending myself though.  I say “I just have to be accurate”.  Doesn’t seem to help.  ALL of her friends, coworkers, acquaintances, homeless guys on the street etc know about it.  Just shut up until she isn’t pregnant anymore.

6. Just help out around the house.  This is easy for me since I am a stay at home dad.  I do most of the housework anyway.  But for those whose lady stays home, shut your mouth, put your ego in the closet and do the dishes.  Or vacuum.  Or make dinner.  Or bathe the other kids.  You should be doing this anyway if you want to call yourself a DAD.

7. It’s only 9 months, you will survive.  There is plenty of porn on the internet if you can’t handle it.

8.  It gets hard for her to get up and do things all of the time, especially in the last trimester.  Unless you are pregnant or broken, get things for her.  Take care of the kids.  She shouldn’t have to get up unless she wants to.  You are capable of more than sitting on the couch.

9.  Think of it as a fun adventure to run to the store all hours of the night for pills, creams, french fries etc.  Modern society has evolved and now offers 24 hour stores and drive thru’s.  Just go do it.  And swallow your pride if she needs something personal.  If you can’t buy tampons without being embarrased be prepared for a whole new level when Preparation H is going across the scanner.  GET OVER IT.  You were adult enough to make the baby, be adult enough to take care of all of the things that go along with it.

10. Take care of HER.  That kid she is carrying is yours.  You made that kid together.  She needs you right now, you cant make the kid yourself.  Back rubs, heating pads, even just cuddles can make her feel like you still care.  Later on when she feels huge and complains of being ugly, tell her just how beautiful she is to you.  Tell her how much she means to you.  Hold her like you did when you were first married.  She is every bit as wonderful now as she was then, but more amazing becasue she is making a baby.

My wife is pregnant again for the fourth time.  She is more beautiful now than ever before.  She is more wonderful than ever before.  I will do anything for her, and not just while she is pregnant.  Number 10 is the most important to me.

If you would like to comment lets discuss!

Thanks for reading

Justin

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