By Daddy Clay December 14th, 2012

Do other dads have a love/hate relationship with buying electronics? I crave gadgets, love them all equally — phones, laptops, tablets, game systems. What guy doesn’t enjoy unboxing the latest digital gewgaw? At those moments I’m the poster boy for childish glee.

Am I the only one that compulsively hits the refresh button on the delivery service web page? Out for delivery! I almost squee.

And unlike cars, I get little satisfaction from nursing utility out of well maintained, older hardware. I want the new stuff.
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Tags: camera, device, digital, electronics, family, gadgets, kids, phone, phones, Photography, production, prosumer, upgrade, video, wife
Posted in Marriage, Money, Photography, Tech, Toys

By Daddy Clay December 7th, 2012

What have I done to deserve this violence?

I have been a loving and affectionate father to my youngest son. In his eight years, I have read to him and tucked him in at night. I have driven him to sports events and cheered him on. I have helped to prepare his meals, wash his clothes and clean his room.

And yet nothing makes this child more gleeful than cleaning out my snot locker with a blind-sided throw-pillow roundhouse. The pained exhalation I produce when he drops a pointy elbow into my spleen makes him positively cackle. He giggles himself into a hiccuping fit with every rabbit punch, body slam, and charlie horse he delivers.
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Tags: bonding, dad, fathers, fun, games, hop, kids, play, pop, rough, roughhousing, seuss, sons, wrestling
Posted in Children's Books, Fatherhood

By Daddy Clay November 29th, 2012

The echoes of Formula One are still ringing in Austin this week, and it has me thinking about college tuition.

A couple weekends ago, in a tune up for the big race, the track operators at The Circuit of the Americas organized an event that encouraged participants to speed around the 3.4 mile track as fast as they wanted to. On foot.

Billed as the “Formula Run” the race looked to me like the perfect way to get a great look at the track and facility without shelling out the big bucks for a weekend pass. It was also the ideal event to lure my son into running a race with me.
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Tags: 529, activities, austin, college, fathers, finance, FormulaOne, inflation, kids, race, running, savings, sons, Tuition
Posted in Health, Money, Sports, activities

By Daddy Clay November 16th, 2012

Another post in my ongoing work with Chevy Culture, a lifestyle and auto site sponsored by Chevrolet. Click through for the full post on Chevy Culture, and come back in the next few weeks and months for more.

My home town of Austin has gone completely car crazy. The first Formula One race held in the last five years is happening right here on Sunday, and we’ve all lost our minds. The news coverage of the traffic around The Circuit of the Americas race track is wall-to-wall. Most of downtown is shut down.

Half the citizenry is hunkered down muttering that the whole event is “un-Austin” in its excess (parties and clubs with $500+ admission charges are often cited by this faction), and half the citizenry is wearing headphones and partying with a dude from Montreal named Christoph (or waiting in traffic to do so).

It’s an all consuming mania. They even help a footrace around the track last week. Can you imagine? Oh, right, I did that with my older son last week. So cool!

I am both getting the hell out of town and jumping in to Formula One Madness with both feet — heading to a ranch south and east of town to rendezvous with a big group of friends who have come down for the race. It’s unclear whether I will make it to the track.

So where does all this car nuttiness come from? How could we all be so overwhelmed with excitement — positive or negative — about cars rolling around a track. Maybe it starts early in childhood. Maybe it starts with that very first Hot Wheels.

My most recent post over at the Chevy Culture site takes a look at the roots of a boy and his car obsession. It all starts with cleaning out the toy box.

Gentlemen and ladies, start your engines.

Tags: austin, autos, boys, cars, Chevrolet, Chevy, Culture, dads, F1, fathers, FormulaOne, guys, hot, HotWheels, kids, men, sons, Toys, Wheels
Posted in Tech, Toys, Travel