Author: Chris Souther

Chris joined the Air Force out of high school. After four years of supporting communications for the Department of Defense, the White House, and stations around the world, he left the military and moved to Atlanta. For the next six years, Chris continued working in the telecom field, eventually traveling around the country teaching companies like MCI, Nortel Networks, and Cabletron, how to do what he did.

When the dot.com crash happened, upon recommendation from his wife, Chris re-enrolled in school and earned his B.S. in Communications (PR & Marketing).

Since then, he was worked in network security, healthcare, banking and finance (and FinTech), general high tech (AI/ML, Cloud, IoT), and most recently, application development fields. Now, with more than 15 years of both Marketing and Communications under his belt, he helps organizations grow their business through the proper application of marketing, communications, and content.

And he blogs on the side. It keeps him sane.

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Dad Blogs Family Life in these United States

Insane in the membrane…(insane in the brain!)

social anxiety Every now an then I have a little cathartic moment–a revelation about myself, if you will. It’s surprising that at 35 years of age, I’m still learning about myself, but it’s true. Perhaps I’m not so much learning something new, so much as I am realizing it. Kind of like realizing that, without knowing it, every time CareerMom forces me to watch a movie with the likes of Brad Pitt, Will Smith or some other Hollywood hunk in it, when the “shirt off” scene finally appears, I’m scrutinizing his body as much as I would a woman’s, to see if he’s lost some muscle mass since his last shirtless film. Or whether being a dad has put a few more speedbumps on his chiseled form. Whatever, I just want to know if I’m holding up as well as he is. Most of the time, I’m disappointed.

But anyway, this past weekend, I discovered something else. For a few precious moments, I escaped from the whiney kids went out to run some errands. Somehow I ended up at Trader Joe’s. I don’t go there often because, while the place is great, it’s really geared for the person who buys food for the day; unlike myself, who bulk shops for groceries whenever possible.

We’ve been all a little blah around here lately, so I grabbed some fresh flowers and some nice Black Tea and headed up to the counter. I stood in line a couple of minutes as the shoppers in front of me chatted up the checkout guy. Finally it was my turn and I handed him my little basket and with my usual “eye avoidance,” I sidled over to the debit card reader. But, instead of just quietly bagging my stuff and letting me go, the checkout guy started talking to me.

“Oh, nice flowers. Great for a day like today.”

“Hmm, yeah they are nice,” I said.

“I’ve been wanting to try this stuff too, but it’s certainly a side dish and I’ve been waiting to find the right meat to have with it,” he said, referring to some spicy rice thing I’d picked up.

Quickly, I replied, “I’m going to have it with that Carne Asada steak. Should go well.”

I hoped that would end the conversation but it didn’t. And as we continued to speak, it occurred to me how much I dislike this banter. Not only does it make me terribly uncomfortable, but anyone who is this happy and perky, makes me suspicious.

Now folks, I have long known that I’m a “Glass is half empty” kinda guy, but this takes it to a whole new level. I mean, what kind of person looks for ulterior motives in someone who is being nice? I tell you what kind…the kind that clearly has issues.

Don’t get me wrong, I can, and do, act normal around other people. But most of the time, I have this internal monologue that’s saying, “RUN, FLEE! DO NOT LOOK THEM IN THE EYES OR THEY’LL SEE WHAT A FRAUD YOU ARE.”

Is that normal? I didn’t think so. And the dumb thing is, as much as I long for adult interaction, when I actually get it, I want to withdraw from it. Yeah, so I’m not OK, you’re not OK, the whole world is kinda weird.

Line forms to the left.

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Dad Blogs Family Life in these United States Marriage

It was good while it lasted…

koozaHa! Fake, Airbrushed Abs!

CareerMom’s gone on a two-day business trip. I HAVE to get some work done today so I took both the boys to Daycare despite my inability to tell whether MLE is still feeling poorly, or whether he just got spoiled being home for four days having his every whim catered to, and was just trying to pull one over on the daycare lady this morning. To look at him, his face is still all splotchy and there are at least two bags under each eye. However, he’s been a lot more playful and happy since yesterday afternoon, so I’m chancing it. Oh wait, did I tell you all that he has “Scarlet Fever?”

It’s sounds scarier than it really is. Basically, it’s a reaction to a virus and in his case, the reaction was an all-over body rash for which there is no treatment. I have been told this all three times that I have spoken to and/or seen a doctor in the last 5 days. They had better be right or I’ll be bustin’ some caps!

Also, CareerMom took my wallet with her by accident so I have no money to spend for the next 48 hours, which means the “easy night at Chick-fil-A” that I had planned…yeah, not so much now.

But, it’s not all bad; despite MLE’s peckish health this weekend, CareerMom and I were determined to make good on the $90 apiece tickets she got me this Christmas for Cirque-du-Solei’s presentation of “Kooza” here in Atlanta on Saturday. And would you believe that for that price, we were all the way on the back row?

In-friggin-credible! By the way, it was jam-packed, so apparently, the recession isn’t adversely affecting entertainment expenses.

But the show, as always, was a feast for the senses. This was my third Cirque show and each one is a delight. Set in a large tent, not unlike an actual circus, a large stage dominates about 1/3 of the area. Lights and cameras are strung around and throughout the arena, bringing an unearthly feeling to the story. If you’ve never been to a Cirque show, then you’re missing out. Each one has a story behind it. Kooza is about a boy who wakes up in a strange land and meets unusual and interesting people. The first half of the show is the “light” side with acrobats and theatrics in gold and glimmer. The second half is the “dark” side dominated by performers in black skin-tight skeleton costumes all huddled around the Grim Reaper. And it is this second half that has the most impressive performances. Most notable being two men who do death-defying stunts from within and outside a contraption that looks like two hamster wheels connected by steel rods. Did I mention these wheels rotate in a 360 turn up as high as 40 feet in the air while the men literally leap into a free fall, ultimately catching back onto the wheel as it arcs towards the ground? But I must admit that my favorite part of the show is, surprisingly, the comedians who fill the spaces between the performances. They keep to the storyline, but their theatrics are hilarious.

WARNING: SPOILER: The funniest moment in this show was when a leisure-suit clad actor brought a well-dressed man from the audience up on stage and in the act of talking to him and getting to know him, the comedian proceeded to rip the guy off! He stole his watch, his wallet, even his tie, and the guy never even knew it!

Amazing!

Unfortunately, due to my sitting behind the largest man in the free world, I completely missed the first 15 minutes, which consisted of three exquisitely attired female contortionists doing things on a raised platform that brought a round of applause every 20 seconds. Yeah, I missed that whole part. Luckily, CareerMom and I figured out a way for me to sit so that I could see around “The Neck” and also luckily, he sat elsewhere for the second half.

After the show, we had dinner out and were still home by 9:30. So really, a great “Adult Night” out.

What did you do this weekend?

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Dad Blogs Family Fatherhood Marriage

Picture Phone Phriday – I’ll cut you!

Kids all handle fear in different ways. When I was young, at night I would completely cover my body with my sheets for fear that whatever was not covered, would get chopped off by some axe-wielding monster. I have no idea where this fear came from, but it also prompted me to attempt world-record breaking sprinting attempts from my light switch to my bed.

I must have been fast since I still have all of my appendages.

My oldest son, whom I’ve affectionately, if perhaps prematurely, labeled “My little Introvert,” seems to have his own method of handling the night-time boogeyman. And while I’m a little fearful of what this might mean in the future, right now, I applaud his audacity:

(I’m adding blank space so you don’t see it before you read the intro)

01-09-09_0618

Defense: Ninja Turtle Style!

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Dad Blogs Family Fatherhood Life in these United States Marriage

Hooked on Phonics, Worked for me!

readingMLI is coming up on five years old and is therefore, in pre-K. In addition to the twice-weekly Spanish classes (Spanish at 5 years old?), they are also learning how to read. Each night he comes home with this little sheet of words that he is working on and last week, he even came home with a rhyme that he read–something to the effect of, “Nan pats the cat. The Cat can pat Nan.” etc. It didn’t get much more difficult.

Thing is, they are learning to read by learning the sight of words. So, they learn that “STOP” reads “Stop.” They are not learning to sound the word out, “Sssss…ta…ta…ah…pa…pa…SssTaPa…STOP!”

We had a small debate over at CareerMom’s parent’s house the other night as to the appropriateness of this method of teaching. CareerMom’s mother is a teacher, and sitting around the table were several highly educated people, who each thought he or she knew better than the other which way of teaching a child to read was better.

It was my MIL who postulated that the child isn’t really learning to read this way; while one of her daughters (who went to a very expensive private university, then transferred out west to get a Masters in Music and who is now doing a Jr. level job at a pharma company), claimed, “Well, once you’re older, aren’t you reading by recognizing the words anyway?”

A good point to be sure, but I’m of the opinion that a child should learn to add manually before using a calculator. However, being the “outlaw” at the table, and one who understands the value of a free, home-cooked meal, I kept my mouth shut.

Last night while trying to come up with a low-key way to kill the last 30 minutes before the kid’s bedtime, I sat down with MLI and asked him to read me “Go Dog Go.” Doesn’t everyone know this book?

Well, he knew the first couple of pages…by heart. Once we got past his “sight words” vocabulary, it was a frustrating thing for him to sound the words out. This cemented my belief that learning to read by sight words is a waste of time! I mean, if a kid has a photographic memory, then fine. Eventually, the kid can read Webster’s and be good to go, but for the rest of us, we really need to learn how to figure things out on our own.

Unfortunately, patience does not run on my side of the family (Bio-mom excluded), and MLI quickly became frustrated with my attempts at helping him. And to my credit, I think I was very patient! (Yaah me!).  All in all, I’m not too worried about him reading or not reading right now. In Kindergarten, I was in the “Remedial Reading Group” until I figured it out and then I was into it like gangbusters. I still spend a substantial amount of money each year on books and I have no doubt that my kids will follow suit.

But, for you parents out there with school-age kids; what did you/do you have to do to help your kids read? And how did they learn? Did the “sight word” method work for you?