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

Aaw mom! Do I HAVE to blog?

I feel like such a slacker for NOT blogging since…whenever, but there’s been just so much going on that I didn’t know what to write. And in truth, most of it is the very same stuff you’re all going through–pudge, too many gifts, gifts that don’t work, where the hell am I gonna put all this crap, etc.–that I didn’t figure you needed to hear it from me either.

Suffice it to say that life is slowly getting back to normal. And by normal, I mean as normal as it can be when you’ve been off with your hyperactive kids for a solid week with the worst weather ever that is keeping you from taking them outside to burn off steam.

But, I figured that if any of you were taking back toys that just didn’t quite do it, that I’d share with you the “Best and Worst Toys” my kids got this year.

Feel free to share your list!

Most played with toys of Christmas 2008:

  • Batman Cave Thingy (link)
  • Balls
  • The Box that a “Build a Bear” came in
  • Shake N Go! Crash Speedway (link)
  • More Lego’s
  • The Wii (mostly played by me I think)

Least played with toys of Christmas 2008:

  • Mini trampoline (quite a surprise here since they LOVE to jump on stuff)
  • Super Cool “Dark Night” BatMobile w/bonus Motorcycle(link)
  • SpiderMan Sit-n-Spin (link)

So there you have it. I’m always surprised at what the kids like and what they don’t, though I don’t know why. If there’s one thing I’ve learned about kids, it’s that just when you think you have them figured out, they go and find something else to drive you crazy with.

I look forward to a new 2009-worth of good blogging. If you haven’t posted lately, do so. We all need a diversion!

Categories
Dad Blogs Family Fatherhood Marriage

Too busy to blog!

Since I’m pretty sure most folks are as busy as me, I’m just gonna go ahead and wish everyone a MERRY CHRISTMAS.

I probably won’t post until at least the day after Christmas, unless the next coupla days spent up at my mother’s in Tennessee produces some unusually juicy blog fodder.

I truly hope that whatever you do these next few days, is done with genuine and heartfelt feelings. You do that, and you’re golden.

But first, I’d like to share with you my thoughts from CareerMom’s family Christmas gathering.

Please read it while singing along with “The 12 Days of Christmas” in your head (you may have to improvise here since the syllables won’t be exactly right…):

Fa la la la la, la la la la…

12 Adults Singing Cabbage Patch Songs

11 Crappy Dirty Santa Gifts

10 Yummy side dishes

9 Ladies stressing

8 Men a meandering

7 Kids a screaming

6 Kinds of wine

FIVE SPOILED BRATS!

4 Days to Go

3 Hours Here

2 Living with their folks again

With One BABY ON THE WAAAAAAAAY!

(not us…the ones living at home again…)

nativity

Categories
Dad Blogs DIY Family Life in these United States

Picture Phone Phriday – Dec. 19, 2008

As a present to the “family” this Christmas, I finally purchased an HDTV. This of course, required the upgrading of my existing Satellite TV, a fact that has escaped my mom and her husband since buying their widescreen HDTV more than a year ago (“I wonder why our picture doesn’t look as good as yours?”)

Anyway, the DirecTV guy came out on a cold morning and ripped out our old satellite dish from where it sat off to the side of our roof out of view of most windows and installed a new one.

He and I sat down and went through all the cool new options and overall, I was pleased. He could have been more warm and friendly, but…whatever.

Anyway, I’ve been enjoying my new HDTV experience, marveling at the picture and generally thinking, “Why didn’t I do this sooner?” and then remembering, “Oh yeah, I remember. Because it’s expensive as hell!”

Then, the other morning, I sat down at the breakfast nook table and looked up through one of my skylights and saw this:

12-19-08_0907

My installer didn’t, in fact, install the new dish where the old one was, OUT OF SIGHT.

No, he installed the new one about 10 inches to the left of the old one and now it hangs over my skylight, protruding on the serenity of my tree-lined sky view.

I’m still trying to decide whether or not it’s worth the complaint.

What do you think?

Categories
Dad Blogs DIY Family Fatherhood Life in these United States Marriage

He was in the prime of his life; but, it was the housecleaning that did him in…

mopping “Daddy?” MLI said, from the top of the stairs. “We’re coming downstairs to watch some cartoons before bed because the TV up in your room is broken.”

Looking up from the floor where I sat folding laundry, “Broken? Hold on, let me come look at it. And don’t come down here! I just mopped and the floor is very slippery!”

Sighing as I placed the clothes in my hand back into the laundry basket, I tiptoed across the freshly mopped floor that was the result of the evening’s earlier Gingerbread Men Icing-fest and then headed up the stairs.

Once upstairs, I confirmed that the TV wasn’t broken; it was just showing the picture in black and white. Knowing this could mean only one thing, I wiggled A/V wires until, sure enough, the color returned.

“Yeaah Daddy!” CareerMom exclaimed.

I bowed, and then headed out the bedroom door, grabbing glasses and other items to return to the kitchen as I went.

Thinking about the twenty things I still needed to do before MY bedtime, I hurried down the stairs.

I stepped down off the last carpeted step onto the freshly mopped linoleum floor and WHOOOOOOPS! Out went my feet from under me! The many various items in my hands went flying across the kitchen and my feet went straight out in front of me! With a gi-normous “THUD!” I hit the ground.

CareerMom, having heard the noise and expecting the worst, came flying down the stairs.

“Are you OK?” Did you hurt your back?”

By this time I had rolled over onto my hands and knees. Rather than just hopping up and exclaiming, “I’m fine…nothing to see here,” like I would have ten years ago, I patiently remained nearly motionless as I took a physical inventory.

Mentally talking to myself:

“Back hurting? No.”

“Butt hurts though.”

“Why does my foot hurt? Man, that hurts like hell!”

I slowly got up and cavalierly tried to wave off CareerMom, “I’m OK.” Then, I took a step and “OUCH!”

I looked down at my foot and could see the swelling coming on. As near as I can tell without going to see a Doctor (which I’m not going to do), I, at the very least, strained some ligaments from my big toe up to my ankle. I’m not sure how one falls on his tailbone, yet torques his toe as if he’d stubbed it, but I somehow managed it.

I iced it and went to bed, only to be woken up around 2:45 with a throbber (my foot gentlemen…my foot!). I downed some “Migraine Strength” Excedrin (with caffeine as I was to find out) and laid on the couch the rest of the night and into the morning.

It’s not broken, that’s for sure. I can walk on the left side of my (left) foot pretty well, but if I put any weight on the toe portion, it’s NIAGRA FALLS!

Yeah, “Yeaah Daddy!” Graceful as a gazelle!