Are We Still Cool? » not cool

The iPad 2 and Kids: How It Scared Cool Baby Out of His Mind

Cool Dad — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 02:37:37 +0000

So, we got an iPad 2. I know, I know…

It’s a luxury item. What purpose does it serve between our smartphone and laptop?
It’s an Apple product, and, hence, not cheap.
Did I already ask what purpose it really serves?

I decided to get it for three main reasons:

It would be a handy way to present slideshows or my portfolio to potential clients.
It’s a unique tool that Cool Mum could use in her homeschool lessons with our kids.
It would make for easier news consumption and reading.

Well, CM has been using it mostly, especially since our little PC netbook succumbed to a nasty Windows XP bug that came out a few weeks ago. It’s a beautiful device that works great, but there’s some frustration over the lack of obvious printing capability and limitations of what you can do on certain websites (especially ones with Flash, of course).

I’ve enjoyed reading on the iPad, and it came in handy when we needed to distract CB at a restaurant (as prophesied earlier on this blog). CM was afraid of “her reputation (of being a healthy eater) being ruined” in CB’s mind. And she resorted to under-the-table dealings to maintain her rep. Literally.

So, despite some shortcomings, the iPad was serving admirably. Until CM told this story in an email thread with some friends about, conveniently, how the iPad can help with kids. CM said:

I heard a frightened scream coming from Noah’s room. I had let him watch YouTube Spanish learning video for kids. Found him hiding under his table in fear. Looked at the iPad…

Did I mention the iPad’s good for reading news?

This post is part of Works for Me Wednesday.

The Cool Fam Christmas photo

Cool Dad — Sat, 25 Dec 2010 13:29:06 +0000

After a hundred shots to get that perfect family Christmas photo, we found out a moment too late that the duckface isn’t cool anymore. Oh well.

Merry Christmas from the Cool Fam! Always trying way too hard to be cool.

Morph baby acquired (for you gamers and geeks)

Cool Dad — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 01:48:11 +0000

I was just going through our drafts, and I found this post that I wrote three years ago. Cool Mum didn’t want me to post it back then because it seemed too private. A lot has changed since then (like Cool Baby isn’t really a baby anymore). So, I’m going for it and publishing this post. CM was sure that no one would get it back then. I’m sure that no one will get it now:

I just finished Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. I’m not really a first-person shooter fan, but there was so much hype about MP3 that I had to try it out. The game was great: the graphics were impressive for the Wii and the controls were super-tight.

Just wanted to share a geek moment. When Baby started curling up on the changing table, I immediately thought of this:

This takes some geek knowledge to understand, so here’s a summary:

Samus, the protagonist in the Metroid games, can transform, or “morph”, into a ball to roll through tight spaces
and this picture is popular around the Internet, referring to Samus’ balling ability

You’re probably scratching your head at all this, but maybe – just maybe – there’s that one geeked-enough parent who will get a chuckle out of this.

[-5 cool points for even posting this]

No related posts.

Cool Mum dances in the street to Beyonce (video)

Cool Mum — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 01:04:22 +0000

It was date night and we got a little sidetracked on the way from the subway to our dinner reservation. Not one member of the Cool Fam has been known to resist a spontaneous dance party. [-5 cool points]

I’m an aficionado of efficiency

Cool Dad — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 12:04:26 +0000

Life has been somewhat crazy and upside-down, but all in a good way. I’m waiting for the subway train to come, questioning myself because I’ve let a couple of local trains (that make every stop) pass by while waiting for an express train (makes only certain stops). I’ve been waiting so long that I think I made a mistake by letting all of those locals pass by.

My degree from the University of Florida is a bachelors in industrial engineering. One cornerstone of IE is efficiency – finding the most efficient ways to do tasks to save time and money. Though I realized about 3/4 of the way into the degree that it wasn’t my calling, efficiency is hard-wired into my personality.

I constantly question my decision-making, wondering if I could have done something better. As I type this on my phone (in order to maximize my commuting time), I’m weighing getting off to transfer to a local train, which will stop closer to my office, or staying on the express, which will get me a further stop faster.

At grocery stores, I scan the checkout lines and switch lines depending on variables like:

Number of customers
Volume of customers’ merchandise
Speed of cashier
Width of conveyor belt
Age of bar code scanner

OK, I’m not an engineer, so those last two aren’t true. But I really do watch for people who get in the other lines at the same time as me to see if they leave before I do.

Maybe I’m just trying to make the most of my time. Maybe I have mental issues. Maybe I’ll read some psychiatry journals on the pot to study up on it.

Are you an efficiency freak like me? What extremes do you go to?

No related posts.

Mom Jeans: If they’re good enough for the President…

Cool Mum — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 15:25:59 +0000

If Mom Jeans are good enough for President Barack Obama, then they must be good enough for Cool Baby.

At a very young age, CB began wearing jorts. Most of our readers disapproved. A recent realization–we have since moved him on to Mom Jeans. What do you think?

I think these things may be making a comeback. I did see a very mom-ish pair of jeans at H&M today. Not only was the waistband high–it was elastic! Just like CB’s jeans.

[-10 cool points]

Cheapo uncool household tricks: Trash can-free living

Cool Mum — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 03:32:15 +0000

Here is a tradition we have carried over from our first NYC apartment . As minimalists, we didn’t want to purchase a trash can, nor did we have any space for one. We also suspected that Cool Baby would one day dig for buried treasure in it.

I took a hint from childhood camping trips and decided to hang the trash in a grocery bag from the door hinge. The bag on the right holds our stash of clean grocery bags, while the bag on the left holds the actual trash. Classy.

[-5 cool points]

If you found this post amusing, intriguing, or even a little disturbing, you should subscribe to AWSC? There’s a lot more where this came from.

This post is part of Works for Me Wednesday.

Cheapo uncool household tricks: Blocking bathroom windows

Cool Mum — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 05:16:37 +0000

Upon seeing our new apartment, one of CD’s first comments was, “People can see us go to the bathroom! Privates are called privates for a reason!”

The next day, he came home to this:

A few weeks went by, and CD mentioned that he was tired of looking at a Starbucks box every time he answered the call of nature. (Please note, we don’t even drink coffee.) The next day, he came home to this:

We are anti-drill after a big failure in the last apartment, so I tried to put up a tension rod and curtain we already owned. It wouldn’t fit in that narrow window, but I figured out a way to put it at a precarious angle and keep it up. CD still thinks it’s a bit unprofessional and that our curtain could land in the toilet at any minute. So far so good.

[-5 cool points]

This post is part of Works for Me Wednesday.

Transformation, one wireless plan change at a time

Cool Dad — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 17:57:32 +0000

New York has continued to transform me in ways I’d never have dreamed. First, we turned our backs on our ballyhooed prepaid wireless plans for real plans that we could depend on in the city. Now, I’m eagerly waiting for the mailman to deliver

*choke* I can’t say it…

My new (used) Blackberry. i’m so confused.

Yes, I’m getting a Blackberry and the data plan. Before you hit unsubscribe because you just don’t know who we are anymore, there is a sane reason for this sudden turn of events. We won the lottery. Just kidding.

Actually, it’s my love of efficiency that’s trumping my love of frugality. I have a 35-minute (on average) commute every day. Much of that time is spent either waiting for the subway or riding it. When we lived in Florida, I used to redeem my driving time by composing blog posts and movie scenes in my head. However, the train isn’t the insulated environment like the Corolla was, so it’s hard for me to word-process in my head.

I do work with several blogs, so being able to do that work on the subway would be sweetly efficient. In comes the smartphone. I can write or edit posts, jot down flashes of inspiration, take pictures of unique NYC moments, and keep up on my blog reading. I have my justified myself yet?

Plus, my favorite justification: By doing my freelance work with the smartphone, it will eventually pay for itself! That excuse works great for guitar equipment, though not so well for red leather pants with ‘COOL DAD’ stitched into them.

So, barring a collapse of the United States Postal Service, I should get my Blackberry tomorrow (supposed to be today grrr). And don’t worry, I’ll still be the same, cheap, humble Cool Dad that you’re used to. Of course, with an awesome new (used) Blackberry smartphone!! [+10,000,000 cool points]

Do you have a smartphone? Are you happy with it?

I destroyed the cheesecake. It’s getting me back

Cool Dad — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 02:50:00 +0000

I love cheesecake. Chocolate, pumpkin, topped with berries – just about any kind, I’ll happily devour. I hear that in some secret places around the USA, there are “cheesecake factories,” where you can go in, sit at a table, and order these wonderful cakes of cheese and receive them within 10-15 minutes. Unfortunately, you have to pay a tip, which of course keeps us away.

Today, the Cool Grand ‘Rents treated us to New York-style cheesecake from a bakery around the corner. It was decadent. Smooth, dry, rich. Cool Mum got me a piece for my birthday, and I savored it for several days; just eating slivers at a time.

This time, I took half a piece, which I noticed weighed a substantial amount, and I inhaled it. Like the movie, gone in 60 seconds. Well, maybe 5 minutes, but for this brick of cream cheese, eggs, flour, and sugar, it was way too fast.

My stomach has been grumbling ever since, and not in a hungry way. In a “What the heck is wrong you with you up there, brain?!”

I can’t wait to sleep this off and begin afresh tomorrow with breakfast at a local diner. I think a pound of home fries would get the morning started right.

How often do you overdo it with one of your favorite treats?

photo: m.ariii