Friday, May 29, 2009

Open for Business

Hi there.
As I was setting this whole thing up the other day I never addressed why I titled this The Corner Pub. It’s very simple, I like pubs.
Now, a few years back when the whole email/internet/web started, I subscribed to a great email service called “My Own Email” that was fun to use. One of their features was to let subscribers make up their own email addresses, hence, My Own Email.
One day, I went to check my email and it wasn’t there. This was terrible, as many of my personal friends data was lost. I had the best address, @cornerpub.com. It was catchy, easy to remember, and the Corner Pub was always open.
Fast forward a few years to present day and here we are. I am now working on the blogging thing and wish to re-establish the Corner Pub brand for anyone who’s interested. Plus, pubs are a wonderful thing. A good pub is just that; it’s not a bar to hang out in. A good pub is a family place, where you can take your kids on Sunday afternoon to watch the game for a while and have a pint or two. A pub is where you take your kid for their first drink, or meet a friend to discuss a problem, or unwind from your day with several of your fellow working class heroes.
So, I hereby declare the The Corner Pub officially open, such as it is, and will not close until further notice. All are welcome, welcome are all. Speak freely and let the good times roll.
As for the oracle thing, well, I was trying to be witty and cute and funny, none of which I’m very good at and I had this whole, “Consult the Oracle,” idea thing in mind and now I can’t figure out how to change it. Oh well, the pub is open, and shall remain so. Come in sit down, and stay awhile.
And if anyone knows how I can restore any of the information from My Own Email, please let me know.
Ciao

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Parenting Twins and other musings

Hi there.
This is my blog and it’s not about any one thing at the moment. Eventually it may be, but for right now it’s about nothing so keep reading.
It’s taken me a while to get into this, and I write for a living, but have yet to fully embrace the web. Part of that is because I’m over 30 and didn’t have it built into my DNA, but another part is because I have twin girls. They just turned two, so if you wonder what my wife and I have been doing for the past couple of years, well, that’s it. A whole lot of raising babies and not much else.
Let me tell you, twins are a blessing and a curse. Of course, the same thing could be said about parenthood. You grow up, go to college, fall in love, get married and have children, in no particular order, but when parenting, or trying to parent, an understanding is present about your own childhood. “Now we know what our parents went through” we say to each other.
But they never had twins.
For all you new parents out there, trying to balance work and home and play and sex and finances and surviving and the economic crisis or the war (yes, we are still at war) who have one child, double that kid thing and that’s what twins are like. We don’t get to take turns dealing with “the” baby, we play man on man. Zone defense is not an option. And for you fathers out there who are not engaged, you don’t know what you’re missing. I’m not going to take a stand about whether they need to be around or not, because the fact is, some of them don’t.
Sending money every month might make you a father, but it doesn’t make you a daddy.
Same goes for you moms. A lot of you go through a tougher adjustment than your man did, and all I can say is hang in there.
Just remember, we have multiples, and no you don’t get credit for understanding by watching Jon and Kate plus eight. We don’t have a reality show footing the bill or providing a staff. We didn’t plan this and we didn’t know how hard it was going to be. We don’t even remember the first year and have only snippets of the second, but now it’s really, really fun. That’s the other thing about multiples, for all those little joys, and all those triumphant moments from the first word to the first step to the first time you see them light up when they see you, we get that in a double dose.
So, obviously this little publication is going to be including some stuff about parenting, and yes, I have some opinions. But that doesn’t mean it’s going to be a “parenting” blog. I, like many parents, have only the expertise of watching my own children grow and develop, and that’s pretty much where it ends.
As far as other topics go, well, interests vary. I’m into a lot of things, and don’t want to run the risk of sounding like a personal ad by listing them here. Needless to say, I welcome feedback and will be encouraged if I receive any on any topic.
Ciao.

Friday, May 15, 2009

Intro

I'm new, and therefore subject to mistakes and various other forms of embarrassment until I manage to get my legs under me. That being understood, I hope to perhaps inform, enlighten, be informed and enlightened, share some humor and maybe pass on a few things that I've learned in this particular trip around the lamp post. I'm interested to hear what anyone has to say about the things I'll post up here, so let me have it.