Sunday Reads IV: Seasonal Nostalgia, Meaningful Numerals and the Day Life Began

I’m in the midst of some of my favorite sounds of summer as I write this.

I’m in the press box at Sims Legion Park in Gastonia on a Saturday night. I’m covering a pair of Coastal Plain League games. It’s an odd doubleheader: Game 1 was a continuation of a game suspended by rain in the second inning, in another city, 10 days ago.

By the time the Gastonia Grizzlies and Martinsville Mustangs finished that game – a 12-3 Grizzlies victory – it was 10 p.m., and many kids still ran around the park on a steamy summer night with little reason for an early bedtime.

The CPL is a summer league for college players, with a rich history and wooden bats. What a dream it would be to spend a summer on one of these teams, living with host families and playing in historic ballparks.

Sunday Reads No. 1: Routines, Reviews, and Roadblocks

I wish I had more time to read.

I wish I had more time for other things, too. Like, watching Elizabeth Banks commercials, or melting cheese on anything, or eating cheese with Elizabeth Banks. I somehow manage, during times I should be doing other things, to read a little every day.

(Don’t tell my boss.)

Actually, tell my boss. Reading’s essential to be a writer. I think Stephen King or Steph Curry said that once. Lots of my blogging friends put together a list of favorites every week, and I’m honored they have the misguided tendency to include me sometimes.

Go Ask Daddy about saxophone glory, the cost to watch and celestial endings

So, this one time, in marching band …

We got to play at halftime of a Colorado State football game in Ft. Collins. It was Band Day, and they played the University of New Mexico. I played baritone sax. I was first chair, I might add. The cheerleaders came with us.

Stick with me … this will tie together eventually.

Her name was Kaylie. (It was actually Shawna, but I don’t want to use her real name.) She was dreamy. Silky, curly brown hair, hazel eyes, braces. Sigh. The universe had a little fun that day and put Shawna – I mean, Kaylie – next to me on the bus.

Guest Post: Joey of Big Teeth & Clouds, on Quitting (and Un-quitting)

The blog world is cyclical.

Unless you count those blogs that drop off sharply. Not because of quality, but from lack of posts. Sometimes, it’s not sustainable. Or we forget the password. Either way, the blog floats along in the ether, like a dead satellite.

Most often, we cycle toward and then away from blogs and blog friends, and when the cycle brings us back close, it’s as if no time had elapsed at all.

Joey writes the blog Big Teeth & Clouds, and she’s here today talking about quitters.

3+ Uncommonly Good Gifts for a Happy Father’s Day

Stormtrooper in a pickle at Brookgreen Gardens in Murrells Inlet, S.C.

I just wanted them to pretend.

Kids are busy, though. There are church camps and chicken fajitas with friends in restaurants way past the dinner rush. There’s a whole day spent with a friend from school, laying out at the pool and baking chocolate chip cookies.

Kids my kids’ age don’t have time to pretend anymore.

So I will. My friends at Uncommon Goods have the coolest stuff you could possibly get your dad (outside of one of those sweet Rockies jerseys.) Uncommon Goods has some uncommon traits going for them as a company, too, in an effort for sustainability.

🔢 Guest Post: Number Recognition Pizza Game from Education.com

nephoto credit: DocChewbacca Pizza Injustice via photopin (license)

They had me at pizza.

Today’s post comes from education.com. They offer learning programs for pre-K to fifth- grade students. I wish there were these things when I was a kid. I was a bit scattered at that age – ‘creative,’ they used to tell me.

The cool thing about the programs: They’re fun.

My girls had fun ways to learn at that age. I kind of wish I had stuff like this to help me learn new stuff at work. This game today combines a nemesis of mine (math) with a love (pizza.) Maybe it’s not too late to sharpen my own math skills.

Go Ask Daddy About Soda Bottles, Laws of Tanning, and the Ultimate Greenback

Court, over at Baking in my Bathing Suit, had an idea.

“Have you ever done a ‘Readers Ask Coach Daddy”? She asked in comments on my most recent Go Ask Daddy post. “I bet you people have some good questions for you.” So I aim to find out.

Send me your Go Ask Daddy questions this week.

Put “Go Ask Daddy” in the subject line and email to bloggingeli@gmail.com. If I get five or more, I’ll pick five and answer them. If not? I’ll act like this never happened.

I’ve had similar bad luck when I asked for questions for my short-lived Ask a Boy feature. Maybe this is different.

Go Ask Daddy About Utility, Emergency, and Conservation Opportunity

This might be a good time for a history lesson.

Go Ask Daddy has been a Friday feature around here for years. My girls ask lots of questions. I know your kids do too. It felt derelict of daddy duty to answer with look it up or I dunno. I don’t feel right, not at least putting down my grilled cheese and giving fatherhood a good try.

I wrote the girls’ questions in a notebook, and then feared I would leave the notebook in the cafeteria and not have a thing to write on a Friday.

So I started a Word doc, on my work computer, and I try really hard and follow the rules at my job so I’m not fired and would lose the entire list. This motivates me at work to avoid criminal activity and also to try good like I would with being a dad.

5 Blog Post I’d Recommend You Read

I gave blood on Sunday.

Not a big deal. I love that I can. I’m O positive and have some special particles or sorcery in my blood that makes it good to give babies. Who doesn’t want to give good stuff to babies? I’d rather give baby crackers or baby nunchucks than my blood, but …

If they need it, I’m glad mine is compatible.

I watched my blood – which looks not surprisingly like barbecue sauce, in those little bags – go out of my arm, and clear saline solution flow in. I do something called double red cell donations, so they take the red stuff out and wash me out with the saline.

#GirlsRock: An Interview with Freelance Copywriter Annie Maguire

I found Annie Maguire in a magazine article.

True story. She’s one of those people you hear stories about. People who quit their 9-to-5 to forge a life on their own terms. Then, she wrote a book about it. Also, she incorporated the word badass into the subtitle, which of course, is badass.

Annie’s story happens where talent, drive, and resourcefulness collide. Today, she’s here to tell about her journey, for #GirlsRock.

#GirlsRock is an occasional series here on Coach Daddy that spotlights women who do cool stuff. Annie definitely qualifies. Her background runs parallel with mine in content marketing – only she absolutely slayed it.