Tag Archives: Papa

Thanksgiving Canceled! Turkey Day Replaced with Bill Day.

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Mark your calendars. 2012 marks the beginning of a new holiday tradition –  end of Turkey Day and the beginning of Bill Day.

Similar to Festivus, it is completely contrived, so it can be anything we want. We reserve the right to add a catchy slogan (how great is “Festivus for the rest of us!?”) and/or adjust the holiday name at a future date.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dS7-jcsB_WQ[/youtube]

But more on Bill Day in a minute.

So, The Dude Family trekked up the to DC area for Thanksgiving. Every other year we celebrate Turkey Day with my sister – aka Lady in a Shoe because she has a ridiculous amount of kids…although The Dudes are catching up fast.

Two years ago it broke out into a children’s Thanksgiving Day dance party…a rare sight on eat-until-you-sleep day.

This year, we stretched it out to four days and even included a trip to Washington, DC with three adults and six kids from 2-8…on the Metro! We’re ballsy.

Chillin’ at the White House…

Little Dude at White House

Little Dude at White House

led to antagonizing at the White House…

which led to a White House wrastling match…

White House Wrastling

White House Wrastling

that led us to taking a deep breath and watching the world pass us by at the Washington Monument…

Washington Monument Chillin'

Washington Monument Chillin’

Much to be Thankful for. Indeed.

After a great day in the big city, we learned that Thanksgiving had been canceled!!! 🙁

To be fair, Thanksgiving wasn’t actually canceled. It was just postponed to Friday. But “Thanksgiving Postponed” doesn’t have the same impact.

Turns out the Dude’s Padre – aka Bill – decided to get the flu vaccine the day before the turkey was to be served. And the flue vaccine made him feel muy mal.

Bill, Doc, really?! The day before Thanksgiving? #headshake.

Let me pull up my soapbox and clear my throat….ah hem…this is where I link to the Dude’s Tips for Cold & Flu season as an unveiled “I told you so.” 🙂

So, Bill was too sick to join us for Thanksgiving, and by Friday Grammie had to leave Papa at home to carry on with the festivities.

But Thanksgiving is Thursday, not Friday! Well, it was. Now Thursday has become Bill Day, and Black Friday has become the new Thanksgiving.

All the cool kids are doing it.

Bill Day = do anything you want day. Everyone else is busy, so the world is your oyster. We chose to go for a hike, cut wood, light a fire, drink beer and watch football…while relegating the kids to the basement to fend for themselves.

Much like Thanksgiving…but no turkey. The perfect Bill Day!

Then we enjoyed a great Thanksgiving on Friday while everyone was beating the shiz out of each other to get the last pre-paid cell phone and/or .50 cent towel at Walmart.

All in all, a pretty great tweak to the Dude’s favorite holiday (4th of July is a close 2nd). Although, we did miss you Papa.

But golfing by Sunday?! Are you sure you were sick…or just avoiding a house with 6 kids and a pregnant lady?

Hey, it’s Bill Day…do you. 🙂

Programming for the Kids

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Computer Programming

Computer Programming

The Dude is going to start dropping some links on the reg.

For those of us over 30, that means I’m going to begin sharing a variety of website links on a regular basis.

The internet is full of ridiculously awesome information. The amazing info is coming at me fast and furious, and I’m falling behind on Dude’s News; so I figure I might as well start sharing the amazingness the interwebs send my way continually, rather than falling behind.

Curration is the best way to describe it. (A few Dude favorite curration blogs are: Brain Pickings, Kottke, The Kid Should See This.) I’m collecting awesomeness across the intertubes and passing it on to you.

Really, I’m creating a catalog of awesomeness for myself, but I’m happy to share it with you too.

Let’s start with this super rad article from Wired Magazine about teaching kids how to program software. As in start teaching kids as young as 5 years old how to program computer software!

Insane. Awesome. Amazing.

It’s like learning a language, so kids are actually very open to it. Kidddos are at a perfect stage to start understanding and assimilating computer programming.

Super rad, and it just so happens that Papa, aka Little Bill, aka the Dude’s Dad, is a computer programming professor at the collegiate level.

Let’s get these kids programming.

Papa, what do you think, make sense? Are you available for online courses? 🙂

Wired Magazine: Teach a Kid to Program

Ridin’ Dirty

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Ridin' Dirty

Ridin' Dirty

For those of you not as down with the Hip Hop community as the Dude, ridin’ dirty is slang for:

the act of driving with illegal weapons or drugs. First coined by Houston Rap group U.G.K.(Bun B and Pimp C) In a song “ridin dirty”

“Somebody told the laws that Bun was the one ridin dirty.”

Mrs. Dude and I don’t let Little Dude play with illegal weapons or drugs just yet, but he’s been ridin’ dirty baby style for the past week; a walker!

The Dude’s parental units graced us with their presence last weekend, and while visiting the Mrs. mentioned that we recently ordered a “walker” for the Boy. Grammie then proceeded to explain that the “toy” we just ordered, and is now being delivered,  does not pass the Grammie-nurse standards; it should not be called a “walker” because it doesn’t teach a baby to walk, and it’s actually an accident waiting to happen because kids roll down stairs in them.

While Grammie was preaching her Grammie-nurse laws of the land (which are almost always accurate regardless of how much I try to resist them), Papa was chiming in asking her if walkers are outlawed.

Is Walmart now selling black market baby products?  That helps explain how they keep their prices so low.

To add insult to injury, the first thing Grammie-nurse #2, aka Nina, said was “kids roll down stairs in those.”  And I believe she half-jokingly referred to it as “the death trap” when she saw it.

Sweet, we’re providing deadly toys for our son, and the Grammie’s don’t approve.  Thanks Walmart.

Oh well, it was already paid for and on the way.  Hope Little Dude is tough.

Can’t wait to hear the I told you so’s when he rolls off the cliff we let him play on.