Enjoying the storm in Pittsburgh and playing with Vine.
Change the Conversation
April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Bloggers in Pittsburgh invite you to participate in a “Day of Blogging” to help change the conversation….
http://www.pghlesbian.com/special-projects/change-the-conversation/
Lately with the exorbitant use of social media, rape has been catapulted even further with the ability to capture and share the horrible offenses. Some people find these offenses to be entertainment which is totally disgusting to me. We as a society must be there for each other and remember and show empathy on how these acts can destroy people’s lives.
I just hate hearing victims blamed when a rape occurs, and to me any sexual assault is a rape. If a person has the attitude that they would like to share what they just did the punishments should be even harsher, as now the images will live on forever in cyber space.
We need to change the conversation and remember that the victims are our daughters, sons, sisters, brothers, mothers and fathers. Anyone can be affected by this horrible action and we must help as a community provide so way of comforting and helping them recover and regain their self respect.
I watched and listened as the horrific details came out of the boys in Ohio, then we hear about a young girl in Califorinia committing sucide. People, we need to walk up, we need to talk to our kids and teach them what is approipriate behavior and what is not. I love to share stuff on the Internet, but think will this hurt someone!
Please help out and contribute through Crowdrise.
The fundraiser is for Pittsburgh Action Against Rape (PAAR) which provide support for survivors of sexual violence and sexual assault.
Join the Day of Blogging to help raise awareness and Change the Conversation.
Hashtag: #PghSAAM (Pittsburgh Sexual Assault Awareness Month)
Posted with BlogsyInvited to Google Glass Explorer
This past Friday I received an Tweet notifying me that I was selected to be part of the Google Glass Explorer program! Needless to say I have very excited about it and working on the cost of the program.
@ljrain You’re invited to join our #glassexplorers program. Woohoo! Make sure to follow us – we’ll DM in the coming weeks.
— Project Glass (@projectglass) March 29, 2013
Google Glass is a huge innovation with computing technology and also brings privacy to a higher level with the easy to conceal camera. I will be documenting my use of Glass in detail here on my blog as well as Youtube, but it is still early and I have to wait for more information from Google and work on funding.
I can see using Glass for many explorations around the Pittsburgh area as well as the adventures I go through being a father of two very active daughters. I am a professional in the IT industry which I am sure many of the Explorers are, but I am a normal “guy” and not a celebrity so that will bring a nice difference to the experience.
Stay tuned for more information, I am hopeful this will move forward and everything will work out.
Keep Trying, Don’t Give Up
Fake it till you make it! I am not a fitness “freak”, I am a couch potato. But, I need to get more healthy and I am determined to do it. I have failed many times at getting fit and dieting, I have good intentions, but I keep failing. I am failing because I am NOT always as committed to my fitness as I should be.
I have a Fitbit which I wear faithfully, I have had it for over a year now. I started with the Ultra and now have the “One” which syncs up over Bluetooth with my iPhone. Why do I have it? Well, it shows what I do and I can see how lazy I am and also I can see when I am doing good. I can also “friend” people to help commit and stay accountable to myself. Having the accountable makes things a little harder to not stick to it and make friends with other people who will help you keep it trying.
Failing at something is ok, it is normal. But true failure is when you give up and don’t go back and try it again. So, don’t give up, I am NOT going to give up and I will keep trying.
Commitment to Fitness
One of the hardest parts of getting fit is committing to it, some people really enjoy working out and eating healthy. Then there are people like me, who enjoy devouring food and would prefer to NOT have anything to do with a gym or other type of activity.
But, having children and also wanting to prevent illness means living a healthy lifestyle. I want my children to be fit and healthy and let’s face it kids learn by watching their parents. We all know that, but sometimes we care to “forget” that as parents we are the first and usually most important model to our children. My kids are very active with dance, sports and other activities, they have the energy to keep on going and prefer to NOT sit and play video games. They enjoy electronics and will play them, which is nice for relaxing time to sit for a while.
I joined a gym with my daughter and the membership is really not working out, she doesn’t enjoy it and it is too packed for me. Also, the timing is very difficult to go to the gym. With kids we do a lot of running around to various events and activities for the kids, this limits the time available to go to the gym.
Luckily for me, my work has a gym in our building that is provided free of charge. The equipment is new and well maintained and all you have to do is attend a basic training on how to use the equipment. I did this shortly after I started working here and have received the code to access the gym some time ago. I have never once stepped in the gym though, until today. Today, I packed up a change of clothes and at 11:30 I walked down to the gym with another person from the department. We didn’t workout out together but just talked occasionally. I planned on using the treadmill for 15 minutes, a plan that I met and passed. My goal is to do this on a daily basis, every day I am at work I will go to the gym and use the treadmill. I walked at 3.5 MPH on the treadmill and walked 1 mile for the day, this took about 18 minutes to do and felt my heart rate increasing. I then decided to do some chest incline presses, not many but 1 set of 10 reps. This concluded my exercise routine for the day and left me feeling very good afterwards.
Another person in my department has an adjustable height desk which is very cool and right up my alley. I talked with him and then talked with my boss about it (who wants one also) and we will be ordering 2 of these in the next month or so. So, now not only will I will walking 1 mile (at least) daily, but I will then be standing the majority of my day instead of sitting.
I wear a device called a Fitbit, which I have talked about before. A Fitbit is a very fancy pedometer that not only tracks your steps but also the number of floors that you elevated and also the intensity of your movement. My public profile on Fitbit is here.
I will be writing updates on my status on this challenge and also be working on my eating routines too. Stay tuned.
Unplug? Take a break?
I have been thinking of unplugging, going offline. I love to share things with my family and friends as does everyone else or Social Media wouldn't be so popular as it is. I gave up Facebook for Lent, but didn't give up Twitter or other social media platforms. Facebook was the one that started me on this path so that was the one I picked, I have other excuses and that is what they are excuses.
The other day my wife had my daughter show me a video on Youtube that she watched, it is a web show that tween puts together. The topic of this episode was how to annoy your parents. But, it gets worse, this girls parents are involved in the show and they seen / heard in the video. Well, that did it, I monitor what my kids do online already and feel that I know what is going on and very tech savvy. But, I didn't expect my kids to watch this and feel it was okay and just a skit.
I blocked Youtube from my house and couldn't believe how much my kids feel this affects them. My wife and I are considering some new rules for Internet in our house now and we want us all to follow the new rules as a family.
OSCARS at Whitehall
Whitehall Elementary have a wonderful event this past Friday, OSCARS!
Outstanding Students Care About Reading Scores
I have been so very happy with the education provided at Baldwin-Whitehall and events like these are meant to encourage the children to read more. They succeeded!
My kids love to read and where so very excited about participating in this event. The school treated the morning as a red carpet event with papurazi taking pics of the kids as they received their Oscars.
The gymnasium was packed with parents watching the awards ceremony as each and every child received an award for trying to read more. An additional award was presented for children that increased their reading scores through the year.
Their teachers called each student by name to walk across the stage and receive an award and then received a beaded necklace.
As they exited the stage confetti was tossed on them and they posed for a portiat infront of a giant Oscar. I know I loved attending the event and I could feel the excitement in the room as all of the students walked across that stage, they looked so happy and proud and they deserved the wonderful attention.
The room was very loud with applause as they each grade took their turn 2nd through 5th, each one was recognized for their efforts.
Of course security was provided and if you where not on the list you didn’t get access to the VIP treatment provided at the OSCARS.
I could see the amount of effort that the school people into this event and the participantion from the students to encourage each other and show how proud they where of everyone was very noticeable.
Great job Whitehall on a wonderful event and great job to each and every one of the students for their efforts and working on reading. Reading is important in so many ways, but it is also enjoyable.
Have you been Sparc’d?
I found this web site as I was socializing on Twitter and really loved the idea and wanted to adapt this to my family. We have tried behavior charts before and have had limited results with them.
Everyone loves to be told they are doing a good job, right? I know I do and I know my kids do also!
I will be writing more about this as I work out the plan and see how my kids like it. For now check out their video and their web site at Sparcet.com.
Time to get fit! I have to do it
I have been trying to diet and get fit for a while now. I have a Fitbit that I wear all the time, I love to see how active (which I am NOT) I am. I also have an account on MyFitnessPal that I use for logging what I eat, I think that know what you eat is very valuable to get fit.
My goal is not to be something that I am not, but I do want to be more healthy. I am a father of 2 wonderful girls (actually 3 counting my niece who I love as my own), I am a dedicated husband and just love life. I am now in my forties and now that I need to be more healthy, my metabolism has stopped allowing me to eat what I want non-stop many years ago.
As a tech geek and addict as my wife calls me, I have devices that would “help” me get fit but I have to be dedicated to doing this.
So, with this I am making my plan and going to commit to it moving forward now. I am going to set realistic goals and will be reporting on it online here (because I am a geek!).
Some basic info, I am overweight and have never been very active and have trouble getting 5,000 steps.
My initial goals are listed below:
- Eat healthy (less red meat, more lean meat and vegetables)
- Exceed my 5,000 step goal every day (this is a start)
- Go to the gym at least 3 times a week
- Obtain & maintain weight below 200 pounds
So, to do this I will be logging my food in MyFitnessPal as well as using Evernote My Food to record what I eat. I want to see what I am eating as well as logging the details. I will be continuing to wear my Fitbit to monitor my activity as well.
MyFitnessPal – Nutrition Facts For Foods
Kids on social media, what do you do?
My kids ( 9 & 11) both have friends and family that are on social media. Both my wife and I are online also, but we don’t feel they should be on social media yet.
Facebook has a limit of 13 years old, which is fine with me, but that doesn’t mean that at 13 my kids will be allowed to be on Facebook. Then you have Twitter, I am active on Twitter and like it a lot, my kids will NOT be on it any time soon. Let’s face it, there are some very nice people on Twitter but some of the content is very obscene. To be fair this is NOT limited to Twitter either.
So, the purpose of this post. Well, my kids have been asking and recently they asked about Instagram. I used to use Instagram but disabled my account to stay with Flickr, but I could understand them wanting to have this on their iPods. My wife and I discuss this over the weekend and I asked on Twitter for thoughts also, I appreciate the feedback from friends about it.
Our decision, yes. My wife and I are a partnership and our kids know that we talk things out and don’t act alone on issues involving them. They also know that we respect each other completely and “have each other’s back“. These are things that we would like our kids to learn and to expect to be part of life.
So, I created the accounts for my kids and they already have emails (really they are forward accounts that go to me). I then turn their accounts to private photos so that people have to be approved access to follow them. Of course, my wife and I followed them. We then added some of their friends and family. We have already explained the dangers of social media to them and repeat these warnings to them. I also want them to understand that things can live forever on the Internet and are very hard to remove.
We felt this is a good way for them to start social media besides some of the child specific services that we let them use.
The purpose of this post is to get a conversation going about having kids on social media, what age do you think is appropriate for your kids, what limits do you have or would have you in place. How will you monitor it? I will be talking more on these as they start, they do not know yet but will find out today after school.
Looking forward to hearing and communicating with other parents about this.
