Damn The Numbers!!

Damn Blog Numbers

Blog Numbers.

It’s 1974, and I’m sitting in the front seat of my mother’s 1965 Blue Green Plymouth Fury. She has me bundled up and ready for errands. Before we can leave, the car needs to warm up.  To pass the time, my mother leads me on count up to 30. This is my first experience with numbers.

I’m sitting at the dining room table. My back is to the door that leads to the basement where my oldest brother, HB, is hanging out. I call out my math homework questions, and HB calls up the answer.  This is another of my early experience with numbers.

Yes, I learned my numbers in an unconventional way.  If you look deeper at my history, this is not surprising. You see, I come from a numbers family. My father was an accountant. My mother can recall the birthday of people she has not seen or spoke to in years. HB majored in accounting. My 2nd oldest brother crunches number in some capacity in his job. My next older brother has held a number of jobs where numbers were required.

Numbers dance in my head.

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Say It!

microphoneSam Kinison yelled these words in the Rodney Dangerfield movie, ‘Back to School.’

For the uninitiated, here’s a quick summary of the movie. Dangerfield is wealthy but does not have a formal education. To motivate his son who is not particularly interested in school, Dangerfield enrolls in college. Kinison has a brief role as an out of control history professor.

Anyway, I’ve quoted this line and scene before when trying to encouraging students to participate. The way I deliver this message is not nearly as dramatic as Kinison who is yelling in Dangerfield’s face when he says, “say it.” The point is the same: stop hesitating, say what you have to say and do so with conviction.

Movie Scene

Movie scene from Back to School

Well, the other night I started calling “say it,” to my boys.  Afterwards, we watched the clip from the movie and the boys were laughing. Later that night, I heard them yelling it out and then laughing some more.

We can add this clip to our repertoire. You see I’ve been showing my boys clips from some of my favorite comedy movies.

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Meet My Son, SJ

Son playing on his KindleI was sitting at the kitchen table last week writing a blog post. SJ, my seven-year old son, was at the table as well. He said to me, “I want to write a blog post.”

I laughed, “That’s cool but not now.”

“When,” he asked.

I didn’t have an answer, “I don’t know buddy.”

He asked repeatedly throughout the day, “I’m ready. Are you ready?”

“No, I’m not ready. Please stop asking me.”

While SJ has created, okay co-created, many Captain Underpants stories, I wasn’t so sure my son was up to a blog post.

So, I did the next best thing. I interviewed SJ. He really is a funny character as you may have noticed here or here or here

Anyway, here is my recent interview with my younger son. It’s slightly edited and includes responses to some prompts not noted.

1. What is your favorite thing to do when you are home?
I like to play on my Kindle. Well, there are certain games. There’s Angry Bird Start War and other Angry Bird games and Ice Age Village and Minecraft. Continue reading

Everyone Needs Help

Oren Miller, A Father and a Blogger

Oren Miller, A Father and a Blogger

When I was younger, so much younger than today
I never needed anybody’s help in any way
But now these days are gone I’m not so self-assured
Now I find I’ve changed my life and opened up the doors
Beatles – Help


I’m sure you have many traits you want children your children to exhibit as they grow into adults. One trait I want my children to exhibit is the ability to ask for help.

It shouldn’t be hard to ask for help. But it is. Really.

Think about how many times you have answered no to the question, “Do you need any help?” when in reality you did need assistance.

And why did you say, “No thanks?” Maybe, you were too proud, too shy or simply did not want to be viewed as weak or needy.

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