Novice Pop

Playing Catch Up

Yes I know, it’s been dead here. Hell, if there are any of you out there actually left reading this I’d be shocked.

And I have no one to blame but myself. I’ve let just about anything and everything get in the way of my posting.

Here’s a quick list of what’s kept me from my postingly duties:

• Changed positions at MassMutual, leaving my role as designer on MM’s Producer “portal” and joining the User Experience Services team as a User Experience Designer
• Dealing with numerous on-again / off-again health issues, including a situation recently that caused some minor memory loss
• Repositioning my freelance design work to be more specific to User Experience Design
• Raising Owen
• Expecting a second bundle of joy this December
• Preparing to teach at UMass Amherst in the fall

I’d love to get back to a regular posting routine, and to post real, honest-o-god content, and not this drivel about myself (no one cares about this crap anyway) but I can’t honestly say when that might be. With the new baby coming, it seems to make sense for it to be soon, but at this point who knows.

So until next time, here’s to ya…

Happy Father’s Day

Just a quick note to say Happy Father’s Day to my fellow Dad’s. Expect new life at Novice Pop in the coming months.

In Memory of Jackie Walker

Early in the afternoon yesterday, a friend, who also happens to be my Brother-in-Law’s mother, passed away as a result of complications from cancer. Jackie Walker was a great woman whom I admired and respected and will very much miss.

Jackie was a co-founder of the Cancer Connection a well-respected, local, non-profit organization offering support services to individuals living with a cancer diagnosis and their families. If you knew Jackie, and wish to do something in her memory, or even if you didn’t know her and just want to help a great group of people, please make a donation in Jackie’s memory to this wonderful organization.

Toddlers and Spare Change Don’t Mix

I hate making exact change unless I absolutely have too. I’ve never understood those people who take an extra five minutes at the cash register to count out the exact amount for their total, because god forbid they get coin back.

Oh no… nuh-nuh-nuh-not cuh-coin!!!

Or even worse are those folks who overpay by a specific amount so that the only change they receive will be in whole dollars - now there’s a waste of time.

So suffice it to say, I always have change in my pockets, sometimes quite a bit. I never expected the danger that was lurking in those pockets… the havoc that was just waiting to be wreaked. Today I caught my son (now 18 months old) not once, not twice, but three times, shoving change that had fallen out of my pockets while sitting on the couch, down his throat. Thinking back, I guess I should have been more aware that he would do this. In his mind shiny new objects = edible.

Maybe I should become one of those exact change payer people.

Monster Squad Coming To DVD

OK, it has absolutely nothing to do with parenting, but one of my all-time favorite, cheesy movies from the 80’s, Monster Squad is finally being released on DVD. And it looks like there is already a listing up on Amazon.

Comic Books Can Improve Your Childs Literacy
(And Free Comic Book Day Is Only Two Days Away)

My first real introduction to comic books started with Wolverine issue #51. I remember buying it because I had a friend who was into comics, and I wanted him to think I was cool, so I picked the comic with the most bad-ass looking character I could find on the rack.

I was hooked instantly, and two years later was spending an average of $30 to $50 a week on comics. My parents let me know that they thought my new addiction was a little exorbitant, at times voicing their confusion as to why I liked comics so much in the first place, but they never tried to stop or prevent me from reading them. They never made me feel like I was a geek (like so many other people did), just because I liked reading over-the-top stories about superheroes with strange powers, and for that I’m grateful.

Pop-culture has changed quite a bit in the 10-11 years since then, but I still feel as if the adult world has too much of a negative view of children reading comics. I mean the influence of comics are everywhere these days, in your child’s favorite cartoons, in the movies, novels, even prime-time dramas. So whats so bad about a kid sitting down and reading a comic?

Look at the positive aspects to reading comics. It has been shown that reading comics improves literacy and numerous organizations like Literacy Works, and ProLiteracy Worldwide have embraced this, and other organizations like The Comic Book Project, have formed around this concept.

I know that my own vocabulary was greatly improved from my habitual comic reading. To this day, I still remember the moment I discovered the word “behemoth” and learned what it meant in an issue of “The Incredible Hulk.”

Another great benefit to reading comics at a young age is that it encourages creativity. Reading stories about wizard, superheroes, aliens, pirates, or all of the above, can - and most often does - inspire children to make up their own stories or draw and write about their own characters. If not for comics, I don’t know that I would have ever uncovered my interest in design, animation, and storytelling, at least not to the extent that it fills my life today.

The worry that comics promote violence, undue sexuality, etc. is no longer valid. True, some comics do feature and rely heavily on these subjects to promote their books, but today there are so many different types of comics for all age groups and interests. And with Free Comic Book Day just around the corner, now is your chance (and your child’s) to give them a shot and see what you’ve been missing.

Apparently, Being True To Your Product Counts For Little These Days

Want to know why I prefer Burger King over McDonald’s and Wendy’s?

No, it has nothing to do with the fact that a Whopper with Cheese would wipe the floor in an all-out burger death match against the the Quarter-Pounder and the Classic Single. It has to do with the fact that as a company, Burger King has accepted who they are.

Make Shoveling Wet Snow Easier

Living in New England (or anyplace where it snows) and not owning a snowblower can be a bitch.

If the snow is wet, the situation can become especially bitchy as the wet snow clings to your shovel like something that clings to something else real tight (sorry, I’m lacking in good analogies right now), making your shovel heavier and impeding on your ability to move as much snow as possible with every scoop.

The answer: Non-stick cooking spray.

Douse your shovel (the part you pick up snow with, not the handle) with a non-stick cooking spray like Pam, and the snow flies right off, making your job of clearing the driveway from the foot or so of white crap that fell from the sky just to prevent you from getting out of the house and having a little fun for once, a little less annoying.

Update: Lucky for us, we just received a hand-me-down snowblower. Thanks Mom and Dad.

Behold! The Awesome Power Of A Child’s Gag Reflex

People constantly pick on my wife and I for the way we break up food for our son. But once we show them what he does if we don’t break things up, they understand. The kid is like a Hoover, or maybe these days its more fitting to say he’s like a Dyson, shoving whatever he can into his mouth without stopping.

This, of course, puts him in danger of choking, something that scares the shit out of me. Recently (twice in the past month) we’ve come face to face with this terror, and what saved our little boy was none other than his own gag reflex. I’ve been shocked to see just how powerful it seems to be, hurling chewed mush up to six feet across the room. All I can say is, “ALL HAIL THE MIGHTY GAG REFLEX!”

Now don’t go thinking that my wife and I will be counting on this little miracle of nature to save our boy if this should ever happen again. We will be enrolling in infant CPR and Heimlich Maneuver classes at the local hospital. In the meantime, here are some online instructional videos from The University of Washington School of Medicine (found via Dumb Little Man).

P.S. Do you know how hard it is to find a decent picture of a baby vomiting? I had to give up.

Let People Know Just How Much They Bother You… With Paper

Finding the right words to let someone know how much they suck can be difficult. I can’t even begin to count how many times I’ve gotten upset at someone, anyone - for doing something stupid, but kept it to myself because the right words just wouldn’t come.

Thanks to some clever, innovative individuals out there in web-land, though, I no longer have to think for myself when trying to decide the on the perfect expletive or insult for that jack-ass who won’t get off his damn cell phone and quit holding up the checkout line at the grocery store.

Now I can just hand them a card or a slip of paper, and all the insulting is handled for me:

• for the dillhole who rendered the last parking space in the lot worthless, because he decided that the lines painted on the ground are just there for decoration…
  The “You Park Like An Asshole” Infraction Notice from You Park Like An Asshole
• for the moron who feels that his cell phone conversations are sooooo important, that we should all hear them…
  SHHH! Cards from Coudal Partners
• and for the general pain in the ass - last, but not least, we have…
  The Douche Card from Orange 32