THE FATHER LIFE

Father’s Day for me is now a melancholy experience.  I certainly appreciate the attention that I get from my two boys and my wife.  My younger son tends to make an artistic gift for me, since he’s the artist of the family, while my older one will scribble some sweet sentiments on a piece of [...]

On May 3, 2010, my son’s dreams came true! He went to see his idol Chris Cornell at a benefit acoustic concert at The Roxy, on Sunset Blvd, in Hollywood, California. With his girlfriend Logan, they pushed their way to the front of the crowd. Cornell was playing acoustic guitar with only a cello as back up. At a pause [...]

Last year, after my honeymoon to Africa, I struggled a bit to find the right material from that extraordinary experience to write about in my column. Happily, I came through with two of my personal favorite columns: each called “African Reflections” (Parts One and Two). This year, as I’m finishing up our trip to the [...]

I learned something very simple, very basic, and very important about parenting while on vacation, overseas, these past three weeks.  I was being selfish.  I have two teenagers who needed their dad, and this three-week trip was an indulgence that wasn’t necessary, was too long, and resulted in my not being there for my older [...]

We went on a family skiing trip recently and on my son’s first run of the season, he fell and broke his arm.  Thankfully, it was a clean hairline fracture and he should heal just fine.  It may take his ego a bit longer to recover, as he was trying to follow his girlfriend when [...]

We just went through the swine flu with our older son, Will. We didn’t panic or allow the hysteria of the msm (mainstream media) to scare us.  His first reaction was simply, “Darn, I’m going to miss Halloween.” I believe our media have become hysteria mongers, as well as all too often focusing on their [...]

I just returned from one of the best three-day trip of my parenting life. My son, Will, not yet 16, and two of his female friends and I drove to San Francisco to attend the Outside Lands Music Festival.  It’s an all-day late-into-the-night, music festival on the Polo Fields at Golden Gate Park.  There are [...]

A recent e-mail from my oldest friend, a college professor, stimulated me to reflect on how we search and find work, as well as how we  in small business promote and sell ourselves.  On this subject, I’ve observed my teen son’s failed efforts to find a summer job.  And, finally, I’ve thought about my own [...]

Remembering Chevy Chase in those summer vacation movies reminds me of the fact that most so-called “family vacations” are, at best, vacations for the kids and torture for the parents. I’m generalizing, of course, but most generalizations and clichés have a strong basis in truth. I stand by the proposition that we parents usually need [...]

We’ve got a great giveaway of an Energizer 15-minute charger + batteries this week… but first, some other cool stuff: Bruce Sallan, author of “A Dad’s Point-of-View,” just launched his own website.  At BruceSallan.com, not only can you learn all about the man, you can also ask Bruce for advice.  Give it a shot; I’m [...]