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Archive for the ‘Travel’ Category
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Dad at a Car Show: Personality Disorder?
By Daddy Clay Thursday, January 12th, 2012
Attending my first car show (as I did this week — the North American International Auto Show in Detroit as the guest of Ford) stimulated three facets of my personality: the inner child, the dad and the businessman.
Inner Child
When I travel, I grab a handful of car magazines. When I get the Sunday New York Times, the first thing I read is the car review at the back of the sports section. I’m never happier or more keyed up than when I’m in the throes of researching, testing and buying a new car. My love of cars is childish — having fallen head over heels when I was a kid and my dad pulled up to the house in a new, silver 928. I loved that car, and cars in general ever since. Read the rest of this entry »
Death of a Trade Show: RIP ABC Kids Expo
By Daddy Clay Thursday, September 29th, 2011
As we worked our way across the floor of the ABC Kids Expo, the doom and gloom among the BPA-free bottles and cloth diapers was palpable. Listless exhibitors would meet us at the front of their booths with tales of woe — low foot traffic, poor food choices at the convention center, spotty internet.
And that was at last year’s show. In Vegas. At that show, most of the problems with the expo were blamed on a sputtering economy. The overall sense was that the attendees, and the show itself would soldier on. Read the rest of this entry »
Family Reunion — DadLabs at ABC Kids Expo ’11, Day 1
By Daddy Clay Saturday, September 24th, 2011
And you were there, and you were there, and so were you…
It’s a bit of a deja vu experience for the DadLabs crew, attending the ABC Kids Expo for the sixth consecutive year. Lots of familiar faces, but something has definitely changed.
We had the uniquely internet age experience of meeting a longtime friend for the first time, when we rolled off the plane and right into Concretin Nic. The Concretin has played host, tour guide, Brad wrangler, master graphic designer, producer, role model, costume designer, Kentucky Bourbon enabler and restaurant critic. So far. Read the rest of this entry »
Raising the Next Blackbeard
By Daddy Clay Monday, August 22nd, 2011
For two-thirds of my offspring, it’s the first day of school, which has me ready to write my “How I spent my summer vacation” essay. I had the great good fortune to be able to take another extended vacation with my family this year, as I have ever year since I got married. I’m a lucky bastard.
We go to Cape Cod and stay in the town of Chatham. Because we return to the same town, the same house (my in-laws’), the same beaches year after year, certain traditions and rituals have emerged. I can find pictures of the kids in the same spot, almost the same pose, from every year of their lives. Scrolling through those images is a fascinating way to watch them grow up before your eyes — almost time-lapse. Read the rest of this entry »
