Loving tech, social networking, and blogging doesn’t mean I’m not also a dad. Heck, I’ve been a dad over half my life now.  Chris Brogan started a site for men like me, Dadomatic.

Dadomatic is a place for dads that blog to blog about fatherhood and family. This can take the form of advice, product reviews, or how-to articles. Visitors to Dadomatic will find whit, wisdom, and wackiness. Best of all it’s family friendly.

I’d like to point you to my two most recent Dadomatic offerings:

Massage and your children

Love, Anger, Kids

Some of your favorite bloggers blog there as well. Jeffery Sass, Chris Brogan, and Doriano Carta aka Paisano.

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• A New Podcast, Starring A “Cast of Dads” (sassholes.blogspot.com)

My people are not selective. They’ll bitch about anything. I don’t mind; they’re free entertainment.

by Amyderby.

Amy is full of life and it shows through on Twitter. Her and I have many common contacts.

She has this to say on her profile:

Legal assistant by day, insomniac by night. I dabble in creative writing as a feeble attempt to keep myself sane. So far, it isn’t working.

Amy is always sharing fun stuff and is quite the engager. She’s on my must hang with list, Tojosan’s future cold beverage buds. I recommend you follow AmyDerby.

child and dog looking through the glass door

What I learned from children

Children see all creatures big and small, human or not, as having feelings, intentions, and some sort of intelligence.

D, our youngest granddaughter, really exemplifies this with pet dogs. She wants to greet each one with a hug and a kiss, as she likes to be greeted by loved ones.

When the granddaughters call, they always ask after our pet, both Gizmo, and now Charlie. They’d often times ask to talk to him on the phone. Each wanted to tell him they loved him.

This behavior extends beyond making pets into playmates, they’ll take anyone as a playmate, now matter how young or old. It’s awesome to see them involving their great-grandpa into reading books and playing board games.When visiting the in-laws, they immediately invite even the littlest baby to play with them.

I’m not sure it’s innocence or naiveté that allows these behaviors. I’d like to think it’s wisdom and acceptance, perhaps two qualities we tend to give up on as we age.

What have children taught you?

(This article was written as a contribution to Middle Zone Musings: What I learned from children, part of the monthly groupwrite series.)

That young man on the right, that’s my oldest. He’s in the Army, and he’s back in Iraq. We received the email yesterday saying his group arrived safe and sound. They’re at a waiting facility till they are briefed or whatever those Army blokes do while they wait.

Iraq welcomes him back for a second deployment. In the interim he was stationed in Korea for over a year. His wife and three daughters remain at the fort while he deploys. They’re strong ones though, and thankfully much closer than on previous out of country tours.

We are fortunate that we got to hang out with him and the family before the deployment. He seemed in good spirits, and seems to really like the unit he’s attached to. Steven was even showing off his gear for us and let Nanna J try on the vest.

@Nanna_J in Army Vest

The girls know this time that he’s not just ‘at work.’ Thanks to the media and the community they are aware there is a war on over there. Obviously they’re not happy but hopefully they’ll be comfort to their mother.

I’m proud of my son’s choice to stay in the Army even during war time. Sure I’d love him just as much as a baker, banker, or bookkeeper, but he’s a soldier boy for now. My father, and Nanna J’s dad were both in the Navy. I’m a Navy veteran. Now that makes me wonder what the heck he chose the Army for?!

Seriously though, we’ll worry. We pray constantly for him and his family. I pray for my wife as well.  Your positive energy, prayers, and words are all welcome.

I plan to ask you to help me flood him with mail during this deployment. Soon I’ll be sharing his mailing address. Your mail would be a welcome treat for him.

Hats off Steven. Stay safe. Love, everyone.

Devon is a father. He’s been raising his son, Miles, with intentional parenting. The video above is Devon’s introduction to us about how he’s approaching parenting. You’re invited to join Devon in his further journey as a father.

You can find Devon’s introduction on Dadomatic.

About Dadomatic:

Dad-o-Matic was founded in 2008 by Chris Brogan who was inspired by the work of Doriano Carta (now Editor-in-Chief) on his personal blog where he shared interesting experiences about being a dad.

The concept was simple: build a place for dads to share thoughts and ideas about parenting. This can be views, news, reviews, and advice. You don’t have to be a dad to participate. It’s just a blog from the Dad’s perspective.

Just got this great news from my cohort Paisano:

“Hey guys. Just wanted to let everyone know that it’s finally going to happen. I’ve been working on a special deal with ABC and Good Morning America producer on a new blog post that we’re going to feature exclusively on “The 5 Most Critical Legal Documents Every Dad Must Have for his Family”. Chris Cuomo will be interviewing Alexis Neely on the air on 8/26/2009 (She’s one of the most well-known family lawyers in the country) where they will talk about Dadomatic, what we do and share the link to our exclusive article. We can expect a tremendous influx of new readers and hopefully subscribers!”

This is very exciting for all concerned.  Dadomatic.com was kick started by Chris Brogan as way to get dads blogging about being dads.  The epitome of daddy blogging you might say.   Dorian aka Paisano is the editor-in-chief, while I and several other dads write about raising children, being a spouse, along with product reviews.

Exposure from this will really bring the multi-author blog into the limelight.  Now to get off my tail and start writing. I could be the next daddy blogger on Good Morning America.

Bea Dobbs Carter passed from this mortal coil on Friday, June 5th. She was my mother-in-law these past 25 years. On Tuesday, June 9th, we laid her body to rest in Forge Ridge, Tennessee.

She leaves behind Charles, her husband of 56 years, Wayne, Tommy, Jerry, Cathy, and Sharon, my wife. More than that, many grandchildren and great grandchildren survive her. Cousins, and siblings as well will be mourning the loss of Bea.

Bea Dobbs Carter was a woman brought up in faith and it never left her. She was fortunate enough to marry Charles Carter, also a deeply spiritual person. They were involved in many churches throughout their lives. It was Brother Steve, a former pastor from St. Peters, Missouri, that came to officiate over her memorial service.

During her memorial, we heard several songs, one of those is a favorite of mine as well, Amazing Grace. I know it was a song that had she been there, she’d have sung with all her might. Another song, Calvary, was also sung, and it’s a favorite of mine as well.

The Bible was no strange book to Bea. They were able to share several of her favorite verses during the memorial and funeral. One of those though was her most favorite and those in attendance felt best described her life, 1 Corinthians 13, specifically, verses 1-7, and 13.

1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

An amazing chapter of the Bible. It’s one of my personal favorites as well.

Bea and I didn’t always see eye to eye, but we always agreed that family, especially her daughter and grandchildren, came first. Her family was the number one thing in her life.  She would do anything for them, and did.  From feeding, housing, and rescuing, Bea has done it all for her family.  She’s been there for births, deaths, marriages, and even divorces and never turned one of them away.

Today I don’t mourn for Bea. I celebrate her passing from this Earth to Heaven, to set at God’s table next to Jesus.  She believed in God, Heaven, and salvation by faith through grace, through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  I’m not asking you to believe with me, but to at least share the joy of her and her family’s belief in this resurrection and reward.

Her family is sad but thankful, and will go on.  They’ll be sharing stories about her for generations to come.  Even my youngest granddaughter, only 4,  felt close to Bea.

Hopefully you’ll take away from this some appreciation for her, or perhaps someone dear to you.  If so, go and share that today.

Just one son-in-law,

Todd

Bea’s obituary

Facebook has added a feature I’ve long desired, a way to connect with your immediate family. What’s best is it doesn’t require yet another application; it’s built into your profile information.

Update your family now:
1) Visit your Facebook profile and choose Edit My Profile.
2) Under the Basic section, under relationship status, is a new area. Here is where you can select from a drop down relationship and select another user for that relationship.
3) Save changes.

Or how I folded a frog in 11 easy steps.

Paper-folding is growing on me. I recently purchased Teach Yourself Origami and some origami paper and got folding. It was easier at first. The folds weren’t that many and you could see where you were going. Now folding the frog there are those one or two steps where you just have to trust the guy that laid out the diagram.

The frog in the picture about isn’t really the result of 11 steps, but about double that. You actually begin with the frog base, a common starting point for many other designs. The frog base starts with the preliminary fold; its self another common folding starter point.

You can see the layers here already. In my mind it’s like a family tree. The preliminary fold is the result of a series of basic folds. Then it has many possible children or follow on next stages, each arrived at through a series of basic folds. Finally you end up with something special, such as a frog or a lilly.

Sitting here pondering this I can already see even more complex paper folding destinations. More complex frogs and swans, each a descendant of the one before. What a glorious art.

If you’re just beginning your interest in Origami, I highly recommend Teach Yourself Origami.

Bonus, Origami Swan in five steps, video:

One of the quirkiest and fun blogs around, MuthaMae.com, is tossing it up.  It’s becoming a parenting video destination.  Knowing Mae it’s going to flip your lid.  I couldn’t make this stuff up.

Here’s what her site warns us with:

Word to your mutha! I’m the Mutha. Word to me.

THIS WEEK!!!!!!!  (Look at all those exclamation points. Damn this better be good..) this site becomes a destination for moms and dads seeking funny parenting videos.  Oh yeah.  It’s that good.

I’m a Missouri stay at home mom who produces videos about parenting and posts them on this website.  I do this with the help of my husband. We have no professional video experience and do all of this on no budget while the kids nap or are in bed for the night.  My dream is to do this professionally one day.  Here’s what I’ve got coming up in the next few weeks:

Want to hear parenting stories told by the funniest comedians in America?  Stay tuned for Mutha Mae’s Bringin’ The Funny. (Coming THIS WEEK!!)

We’ll take a look at the lives of four unique American families in Coast to Coast Parenting. (coming early June, 2009)

Watch clips of the silliest moments in parenting on Mutha Mae’s Don’t Try This At Home Videos. (coming in June, 2009)

And of course you can always check out the web series that started it all, Word To Your Mutha, The Show. (Now showing!)

I will also blog about my experiences in Mutha-Hood and what it’s like to experience Hollywood from Missouri.

Stay tuned! Big changes to this site roll out very soon!