What we're building this week at Lowe's

Saturdays are special days for dads and their kids.

As dads, we hurtle ourselves out of bed every morning to confront whatever the day throws at us. Our jobs, whether it’s one we love or one we hate, all to often take us away from the people who matter most. We spend countless hours with folks who are virtual strangers instead of joyous days with the ones we know as well as we know ourselves. After toiling for untold hours all week long, we need the weekends to connect with the people we love.

To help me cope, there are three weekends of each month to which TheKiddo™ and I most look forward—because we get to play with hammers! The first weekend of the month is at Home Depot. The second and third weekends of the month are at Lowe’s.

I know, I know. It’s an attempt by these two monstrous corporations to brainwash our children. Lowe’s Build and Grow (from 10 to 11 a.m.) and Home Depot’s Kids Workshops (from 9 a.m. to Noon) are efforts to make our kids suggest destinations whenever we are in need of hammers, nails, plants or building ephemera. It’s a beautiful piece of “branding.”

I’ve spent most of my adult life working in advertising/marketing/communications. Building this sort of emotional expectation is brilliant. And effective. Every time we’re at either venue, TheKiddo™ wants to wander the store, look at the tools, and play with the plants in the garden center. As long as it’s fun, I’ll put up with the subtle efforts to indoctrinate TheKiddo™ into the consumer mindset.

Perhaps we’ll see you this weekend at Lowe’s as we build the jewelry holder just in time for Valentine’s Day. Or in a couple of weeks when we build the LoweBot. Or possibly even at Chik-fil-A after we’ve finished (but that’s a story for another post).

What we're building on the 27th

I’m starting to think I’m even more excited about this than TheKiddo™.

And that’s quite an accomplishment.

A new addition to my reading list

I stumbled across this book completely by accident, but the title definitely caught my attention.

Does Your Daughter Have Dad Hair? With TheKiddo™ being a young girl, that title is completely engaging. Happily, her curls hide a multitude of sins on my part, but it’s always obvious to me when she has dad hair.

Now, I don’t know if this book covers dad-hood in general or hair care specifically. I just know I have to check one out and see if it’s worth reading and/or buying.

If anyone has read it, feel free to share.

Harkness Tower at Yale University

So, this has nothing at all to do with being a daddy or Dallas, but I simply had to pass it along.

This video is far too cheesy for words, but it’s an interesting take on the admissions process and decision making at Yale.

Boola Boola

Lakeshore Learning Store

I’m not the crafty one in my relationship. And I’m confident that most dads can admit that very same fact. I’m positive all the dads I personally know would tell you their wives are much more craft oriented.

That being said, I’m not opposed to crafts—especially when TheKiddo™ enjoys them. In fact, crafts are a fun way to help TheKiddo™ learn because she wants to do it. She wants to be the one handling the materials, and making the decisions.

Lakeshore Learning Store is a great place to get crafty. They have free crafts for kids every Saturday from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. TheKiddo™ always enjoys cutting, and gluing, and scribbling, and coloring. And I’m sure she’s not the only one. Plus, once we’re done with the craft, she gets to run around a huge store full of educational materials. We can easily spend a couple of hours there, and have on several occasions.

Go ahead dads; get crafty. Your kids will enjoy it. To make it easy, Lakeshore Learning is located at 13846 N. Dallas Parkway.

The upcoming crafts include:

• Feb 13 – Future President’s Tie
• Feb 20 – Puzzle Me Frame
• Feb 27 – I Love to Read! Bookmark
• Mar 6 – Crazy Kaleidoscope
• Mar 13 – Pot O’ Gold Bank
• Mar 20 – Bird Feeder
• Mar 27 – My Puppet Pal

A bit earlier this year, I wrote about a braised brisket recipe that I love. As part of that, I suggested you need a good knife in the kitchen. I’m not alone in this. Type “How do I choose a good knife” in Google and you’ll receive damn near one million results. I know that’s not a good metric, but folks want this information.

For a good article on the topic, go here, or here, or here.

My favorite knife, as I mentioned in that earlier post, is made by Hammer Stahl. Their website, however, doesn’t match the level of craftsmanship in their knives. In fact, it sucks.

I think the best description of their site is found in something Gertrude Stein once wrote, “There is no there there.”

I’d tell you to go get one of their knives today, but that’s obviously easier said than done.

Pity. A great knife needs a better way for people to get it.

Borofsky's Hammering Man is the perfect icon for first Saturdays in Dallas

The first Saturday of February is a couple of days away, and I’m sure dads are looking for ideas. A couple of easy suggestions are Kids Workshops at Home Depot and Target First Saturday at The Nasher Sculpture Center. Both are free and fun. Two things that are high on our list of priorities.

Workshops begin at 9 a.m. at the Home Depot near you and end at Noon.

Target sponsored free admission to the Nasher is from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m.

TheKiddo™ always enjoys the hammers and the artwork. Maybe you’ll catch us at one or the other.

Was standing in line to check out at Kroger when the latest issue of D Magazine caught my eye. And anyone who knows me, or reads this blog regularly understands why—barbecue.

mmmm ... Barbecue

Upon reading the article about “The Best Barbecue In Dallas (That’s Not Really In Dallas)” a couple of things spring to mind.

1. How is Baker’s Ribs only number 12 on this list?
2. How quickly can I try the 11 ahead of my favorite barbecue joint in Dallas?

I think I might suddenly have extra things to do this weekend. A drive to Forest Hill to check out the #1 place on the list could be among them …

Give the Dallas Independent School District some praise. They have a Montessori program that anyone in the district can apply to have their child attend. That, however, is where the praise stops as far as I’m concerned.

The application process is fatally flawed, and points to a need for more programs of this nature.

What, you may be asking, is the obvious flaw? That parents were camping out overnight in near-freezing temperatures to take advantage of a tie-breaking criteria. If two or more applicants have the same scores in the criteria, the slots available are rewarded based on the time stamps on the application—first come first served.

So parents, wanting the best for their children, camped out to gain an edge in the ultimate tie-breaker.

Cold night of camping out

Too cold for me

My photos don’t do it justice. Several of the local news media captured the story (such as here and here).

I don’t understand what DISD is thinking.

There is no reason on earth parents should be camping out overnight to be sure they’re the first ones to have the application time stamped. That’s a completely arbitrary tie-breaking criteria. Why not replace it with an arbitrary one that doesn’t involve parents spending the night in a tent? Why not place all students that have equal scores into a lottery and select one at random?

Or best of all, why not expand the program to more schools?

With over 250 parents on hand (if reports are accurate) for the first day of the application process which runs two weeks, for a class size of 30 pre-kindergarten students, there is an obvious desire for the curriculum being offered. And a 10% acceptance rate (assuming at least 50 more parents add applications to the first 250—I know TheBetterHalf® and I will be submitting one for TheKiddo™) rivals Ivy League schools for competitiveness.

Someone (or more than one) at DISD is missing the big picture and should be capitalizing on this interest.

February cover for 'Dallas Child'

I’m a masochist. It’s the only explanation that makes sense.

Every month I pick up a copy of ‘Dallas Child’ magazine and every month I want to gouge out my own eyes—after first destroying all of the presses on which this magazine is printed, of course.

Sometimes, I’m simply bemused by the hey-look-at-me approach of the “Real Mom” pieces or the obvious b.s. in the “A Day In the Life …” meanderings. (Note to the ‘Dallas Child’ editorial staff—you might want to pad the time lines you craft; no one with kids gets dressed and out the door in 10 minutes flat).

Each month, however, I can be certain that I’ll be completely pissed off by the final column—”the manifesto” by Rudy Klancnik. February’s issue didn’t disappoint.

He spends the entire page going on and on about how he’s an enlightened father, and won’t push his children “toward all-star statuses in Select sports.” I’m fine with that decision, and even applaud it. Until he describes why.

He won’t do it because there’s no guaranteed return on the investment. Or, as he writes

There’s just so much time and money spent trekking alongside the U-12 travel club or the All-Star Super Selects that I’m not quite sure I’m equipped for the challenge. Or if I even want to be. If all that time and money doesn’t result in a four-year ride to a prominent college, can you demand a refund? Uh, didn’t think so.

Jackass. There are so many things wrong with just that statement that it’s hard to know where to begin. So I think I’ll make just five points.

1) There are some very prominent universities that don’t give scholarships for athletics. In fact, I can think of eight as quickly as blinking. That’s right, gentlemen, there are no scholarships in the Ivy League. But discipline, passion, teamwork and dedication could help your children be better applicants. Those things are crucial when acceptance rates are under 10% at places like Yale.

2) Forget the end-game with its scholarships and applications. Isn’t it possible that the children want to be great at something? Isn’t it possible that they have a burning desire to reach for their own dreams? Maybe they don’t need an overbearing dad pushing them to spend the 10,000 hours the experts say is necessary for greatness.

I spent most of my weekends during Junior High and High School hopping onto buses before dawn to go to wrestling tournaments. (Yes, they happen in the summer too.) My parents didn’t push me. Heck, they didn’t even understand the sport I love. But I had their support when they could give it.

I wish to this day they had been able to be at events more than they were.

By stating that he doesn’t find it “fun or fulfilling,” I have a feeling that Mr. Klancnik’s offspring will sense his lack of interest and pride in their accomplishments. Perhaps they already sense an inability to have his approval. And that would be a tragedy.

3) The teamwork, leadership and goal setting skills that are developed through sports are a bigger return on investment than can be quantified by any scholarship.

4) Shouldn’t the question be if the children find it fun and fulfilling? Isn’t that the first criteria?

5) There are no guarantees about anything we do as dads. Put on your big-boy pants and deal with it.

Yeah, I’ll keep picking up ‘Dallas Child’ to check the calendar and see what activities TheKiddo™ and I can enjoy. I just know that I’ll want to remove my ability to see at some point. Dads, you’ve been warned.

I would suggest you check out Mr. Klancnik on twitter, but since he only updates his feed once a month or so, there isn’t much point. Guess he doesn’t find that fulfilling or fun either. Which makes me wonder why they publish his twitter info.

Come to think of it, I’m wondering why they publish his work at all.

Moisture could prevent your meat from browning correctly

Okay dads, admit it. There are times you’re in the kitchen, working on what should be a beautiful steak or some tasty chops, and you’re thinking to yourself, “Why the fuck isn’t my meat browning well? It’s just lying there in the pan looking sort of gray.”

Well, my friends, I have one word for you: moisture.

That’s right, you need to pat your meat dry before you do anything else. The moisture doesn’t react well to the heat and the oil. I’m no chemist, but I have a feeling it creates a barrier between the oil and the meat since oil and water don’t mix well.

I know the phrase “pat your meat” sounds a bit risque, and I guess it must be somewhat taboo. Because it’s the one secret no cookbook mentions. But simply removing the extra moisture from your meat will help it achieve a better color and flavor.

So grab some paper towels next time you’re in the kitchen and pat your meat dry. You can thank me later.