http://www.straightforwardmedia.com/blog It's never too late to turn it all around. Sun, 18 May 2008 22:18:32 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I am a father of two small children, and next to winning the lottery and winning a date with Jessica Alba, the greatest thing that can happen to a father of two small children is to be alone for a weekend. My wife and kids were away in California this ... http://www.straightforwardmedia.com/blog/2008/05/18/weekend-without-the-family-home-alone-vs-shawshank-redemption/ Hola, students. As a major private-scholarship provider for more than five years now, we get a lot of questions that come in every day about our programs. There are tons of them, but over five years, we've heard just about every concern that you guys have (By the way, you've ... http://www.straightforwardmedia.com/blog/2008/04/28/for-students-frequently-asked-scholarship-questions/ I got a text message from our babysitter, Sheena, while I was eating my microwave pizza for lunch at work Thursday. It said: "Mia said the 's' word ...ha ha." Mia is 3, and she won't be four for another few months. In most families, this would be a cause for concern. ... http://www.straightforwardmedia.com/blog/2008/04/23/shit-my-goddamned-toddler-is-cursing/ Back in the VHS vs. Beta video-format wars of the 1980's, my family put all its ill-fated chips on Beta. More recently, I went all in with an HD-DVD player instead of Blu-Ray, and about four seconds after I did, Toshiba threw in the towel and stopped supporting HD-DVDs. I ... http://www.straightforwardmedia.com/blog/2008/04/18/a-modest-online-revenue-proposal-for-newspapers/ I know there are lots of students on our site who are here to apply for scholarships, so I wanted to take a second to address a problem that some of you are having when you apply online here on the site. We know that some of you are having ... http://www.straightforwardmedia.com/blog/2008/04/16/for-scholarship-applicants-page-two-error/ So I'm out on the deck Sunday afternoon reading the paper while the dogs and kids frolic in the yard, and I notice that this week's Parade magazine is the "What People Earn" issue. You know the one -- the one with about 100 mugshots of regular folks and their ... http://www.straightforwardmedia.com/blog/2008/04/14/dont-forget-to-tip-your-airline-pilot/ I was in a Phoenix bar one time, and after several gallons of beer, I started wondering about what I would do if I ever had to battle the devil to win back my soul (That's the thing about alcohol...if nothing else, it really gets you thinking outside the box). ... http://www.straightforwardmedia.com/blog/2008/04/10/when-i-battle-satan-we-will-play-ms-pac-man/ Throughout her childhood, I've been a little conflicted about when to begin teaching Mia to read. When I was a kid, I read very early -- I was reading at 3 years old. My daughter is a very sharp kid, and I've always just assumed that she would read as ... http://www.straightforwardmedia.com/blog/2008/04/07/products-i-like-clicknkids-click-n-read-phonics/ Unless you're particularly interested in green computing (i.e., computers that don't use much energy) or the Linux operating system, you probably haven't heard of Zonbu, a small computer company in California that sells ultracheap laptops. I came across them in one of the tech/business magazines I read (can't remember which ... http://www.straightforwardmedia.com/blog/2008/04/02/products-to-avoid-zonbu/ It's official: my daughter is the Queen of Devastation. The fistful of people out there in the world who know me extremely well would all probably agree that I'm someone who, for the most part, doesn't take personal criticism very seriously. The words of others just don't bother me much, even ... http://www.straightforwardmedia.com/blog/2008/03/31/do-you-still-love-me-when-i-cry/