Interview 2009

There's a new phenomenon sweeping the blogging world. It's called Interview 2009, and I guess it isn't really sweeping the blogging world. Phenomenon may be a bit of an overstatement as well. But it's happening nonetheless. I was asked to interview Lora (who has, like, a hundred and twelve blogs), and you can find that interview here. Cat, from My Name is Cat, was my interviewer. The thing I liked about this project is that it required me to read more blogs. I couldn't necessarily interview Lora without first doing some research. Well, I guess I could, but my name isn't Larry King. Then, I've got this random "Cat" person getting ready to shoot some questions my way. I had to read her blog to see who the heck this person was. As a result of all this, I've added a few more blogs to my reader. There's actually more I want to look into, but there's only so much time in the day.

Chris, over at A Free Man, was the organizer of this event. The first blog I ever read of his was a "Science Tuesday" post discussing vaccines and Autism (Note: I can't locate the actual post. The link is to his follow-up post). I really wish I could remember how I found his blog, but that's outside the grasp of my memory. I've been an avid reader since then, even if we don't always have similar opinions. But, he's much smarter than me, so you can make your own call there. If you are a fan of music at all, I would highly recommend you keep up on his blog.

Anyway, I get an email from Cat, telling me that she likes my blog, and that she's going to read some of my back posts before asking me my questions. I can respect that. Well, then she drops off the Earth and I never hear from her again. I don't want to say that my feelings were hurt, but it didn't feel great, that's for sure. I even went to her blog and posted a couple comments. You know, to remind her that I'm alive, and she has obligations. Nothing...

A couple days ago, an online friend needed my assistance with webpage design and code. We started up a chat with 2 other people on MSN so we could all get on the same page. MSN Messenger does this really annoying thing where it always pops up a little window to tell me that I've got unread mail in my inbox. I say it's annoying because I don't use hotmail. Ever. I use my Yahoo account for email. I only have the hotmail account because you have to have it to use MSN Messenger. Actually, it's called Live Messenger now, but that's semantics. I clicked on the window to make it go away, but accidentally clicked on the link to open my inbox...

... and there was an email from Cat with my interview questions. Whoops. Looks like I listed the wrong email address on one of my profiles. Now I have to get my voodoo black-magic book (bound with human skin, no less) off the shelf and see how I would go about removing curses from someone. Here are the questions and answers.

1) Cat: You are fairly new to the dad game, so what has been your biggest surprise about being a dad?
I almost said "not realizing how tired I would be, ALL THE TIME." But then I thought about it for a minute. The whole "so tired I could probably sleep during a nuclear war" thing wasn't really a surprise. That was one of the first things that any guy would warn me about. One guy told me that I will soon wonder what I used to do with all my free time before having a baby. He was right, by the way.

I've got two answers to give, because they both really caught me off guard. First, I didn't realize how much of a strain it can put on a relationship. Everything's fine, don't worry folks. But our buttons seem to be much more sensitive now, and it's much easier for us to push each others'.

The other surprise, and probably the bigger one, is in how much I've changed. Kids never impressed me. Actually, they sorta annoyed me, always asking questions, doing stuff they shouldn't be doing, and crying their little heads off at Wal-Mart. Now... I empathize with parents, and understand that kids/babies are just being kids/babies. That being said, I still have little (read: no) patience for parents that don't control their kids. Letting a kid run rampant at Target, knocking &@#$ off shelves because they're too busy looking at clearanced Christmas decorations is just plain stupid, ignorant, and other insulting words.

2) Cat: Besides gestation, giving birth and nursing, what do you think is the major differences in being a mom and being a dad?
Tyler has been learning to pull himself up to a stand, with the help of household furniture. He's still grasping the concept that standing on two legs is completely different than hands and knees. As such, he's learned a few things about gravity and hard surfaces. When Tyler falls, and smacks his noggin on the floor or side table, Sarah rushes to him to make sure he's fine (not all the time, but enough). I, on the other hand, look at him and tell him, "That didn't hurt, you're ok. Get up and try again."

So, my answer is:
Mom :: Dad : Nurture :: Nature

(seriously, I've been racking my brain, and using google, to figure out if I wrote that correctly. I may have mixed up the single colon and double colon. If any of you could point me to a reference, I would be very appreciative. For those of you not in "the know", it is read as "Mom is to Dad as Nurture is to Nature".)

3) Cat: If you are able to attain your lifelong goal of becoming a superhero, what would your name be, what special power would you want and what would your costume look like?
I never thought of a name for myself. I always liked how, in the comic books (and some of their movie adaptations), the populous named the superhero. It could easily backfire, for sure, but I trust the people that I selflessly protect.

Superpower... well, there's the stock answer of "flying" that everyone says. I loved what Neo was capable of in "The Matrix" and while I would never want to sound or look like him, I would love his powers. Truth be told, they weren't really powers, since the Matrix was just a virtual world. Then again, at the end of the second movie, we saw Neo display a power in the real world. If you've got some time, we could analyze deeper, but I really would like to keep the reader base that I currently have.

As for a costume... much to the dismay of my female audience (and maybe some of my male audience), you will NOT see me in spandex or tights. Probably a pair of Old Navy jeans, a vintage fit t-shirt, and a fleece jacket on chilly days. At home, alone, I may try out a cape.

4) Cat: For the unconverted, why Firefox over Microsoft Explorer?
Oh, where do I begin? IE (Internet Explorer) is finally getting some things right, like tabbed browsing. If you haven't used tabs before, you're really missing out. It's like always riding in the passenger seat, and then your dad gives you the keys and lets you take it for a spin. IE also has many vulnerabilities that don't get patched quickly from MS (Microsoft). FF (Firefox) is much more standards compliant... blah blah blah, right? Well, I will tell you this, with absolute certainty... FF is faster than IE, and that's what matters to most people nowadays. Plus, you can always uninstall it if you don't like it. Oh... and the addons for FF are beyond awesome.

If you do try FF, get an addon called "Adblock Plus". It makes the internet so much more pretty.

5) Cat: Are you going to get a tat commemorating the birth of your son?
Let's recap first. When I turned 18, I got a tattoo of a clown... on my forearm. I won't go into the details, but I will say that I was a fan of a local band named "Insane Clown Posse". What? I said I was 18 for cryin' out loud! I have Chinese writing behind both of my shoulders. They say "Crazy" and "Insane". At least that's what I'm told they say. I have a huge tribal piece between my shoulders and down the middle of my back. Then, I've got two dragons on my lower back.

I truly regret the one on my forearm, but don't have a spare $2k to get it removed. I also wish I hadn't gotten the other pieces done. Ahhh.... youth. Now I have to explain to my son why he shouldn't do what I did. Why, oh why didn't I listen to my parents when I was younger?

That ends the question and answer session. I hope you liked it. Take a few minutes and click on the links. I try to only read the best of the best blogs out there, so you won't be disappointed if you check them out.