Taking Paternity Leave Makes You a Hipster?

By Stefan-Xp (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) or Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

This morning, as I was driving to work, a radio deejay mentioned that it seemed like all of his coworkers were on vacation and he never took vacation. Then he said something like, “That’s okay. I’m saving all my vacation for paternity leave." And this as though realizing he'd said too much, he added, "That probably makes me a hipster.” Seriously? Why was this man embarrassed to admit that he was taking paternity leave? Only hipsters can admit to having a caring side?

My mind immediately turned to a situation from last week when golfer Hunter Mahan withdrew from a tournament he was leading because his wife went into labor with their first child. Oh, and did I mention she went into labor a month early, turning a stressful situation into an even more stressful situation? And, oh, I forgot to say she was in another state.

But apparently, despite all these facts, it was big, shocking, unbelievable news that Mahan withdrew from the tournament even though he was looking at a big payday. There were news articles and radio and TV segments devoted to his decision.

Ooh, just thinking about both these situations makes me mad.

Why are men questioned for wanting to be there for their wives who have carried their child for nine months and is now going through painful, scary process of giving birth to this child? Why do some men feel the need to apologize for wanting to be there?

The wife didn’t get pregnant on her own.

It doesn’t make the husband less of a man for wanting to be there for the birth of his child. It doesn’t make the husband less of a man for wanting to take care of the person he helped create.

Real men take care of their responsibilities. Real men embrace taking care of their responsibilities.

What year is this again?

Remembering Kidd Kraddick

By Kyledean84 (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

A week ago tonight around 10 p.m., I saw the following tweet.

RIP Kidd Kraddick. You were an amazing man and a friend. You are already missed.

— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) July 28, 2013

My heart stopped for a second. I read it several times praying that I'd misread it. I hadn't. I went searching for more info. It became evident that this wasn't a sick joke. Local news outlets had been holding back reporting the deejay's death until they were 100% sure it was true, but one by one they began reporting it, especially after KISS-FM released a statement.

I was heartbroken. Still am, if I want to be truly honest.

I remember the first time I listened to Kidd Kraddick in the Morning. It was late July/early August 1998. I'd grown up listening to Tom Joyner and Skip Murphy, the morning deejays for K104 here in Dallas.

But one summer morning, I got up a lot earlier than I needed to in order to listen to KKITM. Why? Because they were going to announce the headliner for KISS-FM's first End of Summer Bash, and I needed to know immediately who that act was.

You see, during that summer, I'd become a huge *NSYNC fan. I certainly hadn't planned it. But KISS had held a concert at the beginning of the summer and Mariah Carey was the featured guest. She was my favorite singer, so I had to see her.

I went and saw her. *NSYNC was also there, and they blew me away. They were so good. And when I like something whether it's an author or a movie or TV show or a music group, I tend to go ALL OUT.

Anyway, that day I became an *NSYNC fan. A month later, so did a ton of other people because of their Disney Concert Special, which Disney only ran a million kajillion times (and can be found on Youtube in its entirety - lol).

In late July/early August, KISS started running a commercial promoting the End of Summer Bash and the mystery headliner ending the commercial with "And you won't believe who it is!"

In my gut, I knew it was *NSYNC. I didn't have any secret intel. I just knew. Finally, one Friday, the spots said Kidd Kraddick would announce the act Monday morning.

So Monday morning, I dragged myself out of bed and went downstairs to listen because my mom listened (loudly) to K104 while she got ready for work.

What I remember is that within 30 seconds of listening to KKITM, I was rolling with laughter. I'd never listened before, didn't know who the cast members were, but they were cracking me up.

They got around to announcing the concert headliner and sure enough it was *NSYNC. They promised to give away tickets throughout the show, so I had to keep listening.

I've listened for the last 15 years.

I was so happy when KISS started streaming live on the Internet (remember those dark days when this was unusual?), because I was away at college and could listen to the show.

Why was I so devoted to the show, to Kidd? Because he and the other cast members invited me into their lives and made me laugh (and sometimes cry) while doing it.

When I saw that Kidd had died, my first immediate thought was for his daughter, Caroline. He loved and doted on her so much.

Although I didn't know Kidd, I felt like I did.

I knew that his favorite movie was Somewhere in Time.

I knew that his mom, Rosie, was a terrible cook.

I knew that he was Catholic, but hadn't been born into the faith. He'd chosen it because he felt most at home there.

I even knew that his first name was David, although that was a closely guarded secret (for privacy reasons, I believe). I suppose anyone who did a little rudimentary Internet research knew, but he never mentioned it on the show. I only knew because there had been 1 or 2 slipups on the air over the years.

What I admired most about Kidd as a professional was his storytelling prowess. I'm a terrible verbal storyteller, but Kidd was so good at it. He'd keep me enthralled, knowing when to amp up the tension, how to set up the punchline, when to hold back. Even for stories I'd heard before, I'd listen like it was the first time.

I also admired how quick and brilliant he truly was. I don't know how many times the cast would be talking/joking about something and kind of paint Kidd into a corner. He'd sigh and say "We'll be back with the story of how Kellie and Al became lost in the amusement park." (Yes, that's a really bad example, but you get the point).

After the commercial break, he'd come back with a full script that was both coherent and funny.

Did I admire everything about Kidd? No. Many times, he would quickly get bored with discussions and make everyone move on even if the audience (i.e. me) and the other cast members were enjoying it. He was also easily distracted. He'd promise that they would talk about the newest celebrity scandal next, but come back from commercial break talking about buying a new iPad. And he was so impatient. I told him to chill more than once through the radio.

But his flaws and strengths made him real. He didn't try to hide who he was. He wanted his listeners to know him. He let me into his life and I'll be forever thankful.

RIP, Kidd. Your legacy will live on.

All play and no work? Hey, I was at Disney World!

This photo cracks me up. Hey, Boo!

A few weeks ago, I went to a work conference being held at WALT DISNEY WORLD. SCORE! #winning! And any other cool terms I can't think of right now or just don't know because I'm not cool.

So yeah, I adore Walt Disney World and will look for any excuse I can think of to go there. The last time I was there was in 2010 for the Romance Writers of America conference. However, as I  I wandered through the parks on this last trip, I remembered that I only spent half a day at the Magic Kingdom during the RWA trip, so really it had been since December 2008 that I spent any quality time in the parks.

I was shocked by this. Where did the time go?

Most things were the same at the World, but a few had changed, which is as it should be. It keeps things fresh and interesting for me. A few highlights of the trip...

A view of the Grand Floridian from the monorail

1. OMG, the hotel!The Grand Floridian is Disney's flagship hotel and I got to stay there! My employer paid for my hotel during the conference. The official conference hotel was the Contemporary, but it sold out and the Disney rep asked if I minded staying at the overflow hotel, the GF. Um, yeah, I think that will be okay. I've always wanted to stay at one of Disney's deluxe hotels, but I'm way too cheap to pay the asking price. But if someone else is footing the bill? Heck, yeah. Sign me up.

The hotel was beautiful, of course, but another benefit of staying at the GF was that I got to ride the monorail a lot because the conference was at the Contemporary. And now I'm officially in love. I've heard other Disneyphiles rhapsodizing about the monorail's convenience and now I fully understand why. The monorail only stops at a few of Disney's hotels. I never waited long for one and most of the time I had a seat. Granted, it was late January, not the middle of July, but still...

2. You want some mayo with those fries? On my Hollywood Studios day, I was eating dinner at a table outside when two teenagers plopped down at my table, which was cool. It was crowded and I was taking up a big table by myself because I couldn't find a small table. Anywho, they started talking and I tried to figure out where they were from. England? No, I didn't think so because the girl said something and I had no idea what she said although she was only a few feet away. South Africa, maybe? Since it wasn't really any of my business, I didn't ask.

Not even when the boy poured ketchup and mayo all over his fries. But when the girl asked him for a packet of mayo and poured it all over her fries, I couldn't hold it back anymore. I asked where they were from. New Zealand. Aww, so close. I asked if it was common for New Zealanders to put mayo on their fries. After a few seconds, they said yes, although they'd never thought about it before. They were working at Disney in the college program and had been in the States for two weeks.

3. You're going to want to sleep in this ride. So when I rode Hollywood Tower of Terror, a dad sat in the row in front of me with his daughter. She couldn't have been older than 4 or 5. He was really psyching her up. "You're going to love this! You're going to want to sleep in this ride!" In my head, I'm going, "No, she's not. She's going to hate it." In case you don't know, Tower of Terror is a sudden, elevator drop ride. It's not as crazy as similar rides at Six Flags and other amusement parks, but it's still pretty intense. So, anyway, we rode the ride. I clutched the handrail as hard as I can and yelled the whole way. As the ride ends, I hear this little voice in front of me. "Again, again, again!" I guess Daddy knew best.

4.Are you from the United States? While at the Magic Kingdom, my phone battery started to die. I found an electrical outlet outside of a building. Better yet, there was a bench next to the outlet, so I plopped down and went to charging. The bench was also across the way from a restroom. So an old man sat next to me while his family used the facilities. I smiled and nodded at him and went back to reading Twitter on the phone. All of a sudden I hear, "Are you from the United States?" Yes, old man was talking to me.

I understand why he asked. One of the coolest things about Disney World is the sheer amount of languages and accents you hear just walking through the parks. It was funny. He probably could have phrased the question in a more polite way, but it was cool. After I told him yes, he asked about my cool Crocs because he was from Colorado near the Crocs headquarters.

The American Idol Experience

5.Fake American Idol makes me just as mad as real American Idol. I love American Idol, so I was really excited to try out the American Idol Experience, in which park guests audition and participate in an American Idol-like show. They sing, they get critiqued by 3 judges, and there's a Ryan Seacrest wannabe judge, and the audience votes on the winner. They have about 4 of these shows throughout the day and then have a show at night with all of the winners and one grand prize winner is announced. The grand prize winner gets a "head of the line" pass for the real American Idol auditions. They don't have to camp out with the masses.

I went to a morning session and loved it, so I had to go to the evening session to see if my girl won. And she didn't! I was so mad. I'm fully convinced that they gave it to the teenager because she was the right age and my girl was "over the hill" because she was in her 30s. Hmmph.

suitcase

6. And one bad thing. Yep, that's my suitcase. Sometime between when I checked in my bag at the airport and when it was delivered to my hotel room, it lost a wheel. Sigh. I've wanted new luggage for a while. Now, I have the perfect excuse to get some. #silverlining - But if that was the worst thing to happen, then it was a fabulous trip.

Okay, this post is really long, so I'll stop now. Enjoy a few photos from the trip with some witty, insightful, HI-LARIOUS captions.

And, oh, yeah, I can't wait to go back!

Jam of the Week: My Birthday Edition

Today is my birthday. Woot, woot! Anyway, last night as a birthday present to myself I saw Kelly Clarkson in concert. She was amazing! Say what you want about her, but the girl can sing her butt off.

But it almost didn't happen.

When the tickets went on sale, I had no clue. I'm usually pretty good about keeping track of that stuff. All I know is a few days after they went on sale, a DJ mentioned it on the radio. I was like, "Say what, now?"

I immediately hightailed it to my computer and went to ticketmaster.com, but of course all the good seats were long gone. Here's something you should know about me. I'm hella spoiled when it comes to concert seating. I don't do nosebleeds. I like to be as close as possible.

I decided to wait to buy tickets. I've played this game more than once. It's not uncommon for (good) seats to be released the closer the concert date approaches. So I checked Ticketmaster every few days. Nothing.

Yesterday morning, I woke up early just to check Ticketmaster. Nothing but nosebleeds. At some point during the day, a lone seat close to the floor popped up, but someone was faster than me and snatched it up. Boo!

For the rest of the day, I went back and forth about just getting a nosebleed seat, but I couldn't pull the trigger. Spoiled, remember?

But I really wanted to see Kelly. But I didn't want to watch a speck on stage. Oh, the quandary.

So yeah, at 3:30, the concert was taken off Ticketmaster's page. No!! I called Ticketmaster and got a recording that tickets could now only be be bought at the venue. I hunted down the venue's box office number on their website. I called and asked if they had any tickets. Nope. Sold out. This was around 4:00.

I decided to wait until 5:00 to try again. I called and got a recording. The box office opens 2 hours before the show. The concert started at 7:30. Fine. I finished up some actual  job-related work, programmed the box office number in my phone, gathered all my stuff and headed to my car. By the time I got to my car, it was about 5:25.

I called. Got the recording. Waited 5 minutes. Called. Someone answered! Do you have 1 ticket? "We have one ticket available, but we don't sell tickets over the phone."

I told her it wouldn't be a problem. I'd be there shortly. It just so happens that I work close to the venue, my one saving grace. I gunned it, arrived, ran up to the box office and asked if they had a ticket. They still had it. I bought it and the rest is history.

Yeah, kinda ridiculous. But worth it.

I haven't done a Jam of the Week in a while (ya know because I haven't been blogging, but whatever). Still I couldn't let my birthday pass without putting one up.

So yeah, this song was written and recorded before I was born, but we can't let facts stand in the way of a good story, can we? They're obviously singing about me, right? :)

So I present to you... Jamie by the Jackson 5.

I Discovered Harry Potter!

So it's 2012 and apparently I haven't blogged in almost 3 months. Ouch. Oh well. I aim to do better this year. But more on my resolutions later.

So yeah, I'd never read Harry Potter. Nor have I seen the movies. I decided long ago that I wouldn't watch the movies until I read the books.

I bought Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in 2009 (I think) and it languished in my huge to-be-read pile. One of my resolutions this year (I'll blog about them all later) was to read outside of my preferred genre of romance more.

Since I'd been meaning to read HP forever and I had the book, it seemed like a logical place to start.

Here's what I knew before cracking open the book (I'd deliberately kept as uninformed as possible as to not ruin anything).

1. Harry is an orphan.

2. Hogwarts is where he goes to become a wizard.

3. His BFFs are Ron and Hermione.

4. Ron has freckles and people were really upset that Movie Ron is freckleless.

5. There's some character named Voldemort.

I'm pretty sure that's it. Or, at the very least, that's all I can think of right now.

Oh, wait. I think Ron and Hermione hook up at some point in the future. I think anyway and could be so wrong, but I'm going with it because it amused me that Ron dislikes her at the beginning.

Oh, also, actually, I was a little surprised that it took a while for Hermione to join the gang just because they're always presented as a trio at the movie premieres. Which I guess they are once she joined the gang.

As you can tell, my HP knowledge was severely limited before I cracked open the book. I was ripe to be surprised. And I was!

1. The book had a lot of humor in it, which, for whatever reason, I wasn't expecting. I laughed more than once.

2. I got a wee bit annoyed with Harry when he first got his letter. J. K. Rowling had taken great pains to describe his crazy family and how they gave him nothing and wanted him to have nothing, so he waltzes back into the kitchen and opens the letter in front of them! Really,  Harry?

3. My word - it took forever to get to Hogwarts. I was past page 100 before that happened.

4. I was a victim of my own expectations. When he did get to Hogwarts, I kept waiting for something BIG to happen. He would have mini-adventures, but everything would be okay by the end of the chapter. Which was fine. This "criticism" has more to do with me than the book.

5. Sometimes, I would have preferred to be in Harry's head more. Maybe I wish there was more dialogue instead of just telling us what was happening.

6. With that said, I'm in awe of Rowling's imagination. All the stuff she came up with was amazing! She created a whole new world with its own language, rules, and even games. She laid the groundwork for six more books, and did so effectively. I'm sure it wasn't easy, but she made it appear effortless. I was enthralled and kept turning the pages.

I think it goes without saying that I'm looking forward to the next books.

P. S. I love Neville!

Thursday Links

1. I love celebrity news and celebrity couples. (Keep the duhs to yourself, peanut gallery). But it's always funny to watch TV shows or movies with stars who used to date each other. I love Gossip Girl (stop judging me) and Serena and Dan dated for a few years. And there they are on the show giving each other longing glances (sometimes). It makes me giggle. Anywho, here are some celeb couples who worked together after splitting.

2. I love Twitter. (Remember, keep the duhs to yourself). It's fascinating watching it grow in importance. TV, especially, has latched on to it and now both are helping each other grow.

3. This made me giggle. Who wore it best? Mariah Carey's baby Monroe or Kim Kardashian?

4. Hip hop is an ingrained part of American culture now, but the music genre is only around 30 years old. I liked this look back at one of the early stars, Big Daddy Kane.

So yeah, all of my links today were on the entertainment side and none on the sports side. I looked for some interesting ones, but honestly, the sports side of my brain has been consumed with the Penn State debacle. It sickens me, it hurts me, it pisses me off that football was deemed more important than protecting kids. I can only hope that the kids have found help or will now seek it out and they find or have found a way to live a happy, peaceful life.

Only Me: How I Almost Killed Myself Trying to Win $10,000

A local radio station, KISS-FM, does "No Commercial Mondays." From 10 am to midnight, it's straight music except for the occasional deejay lead-in.

A few weeks ago, the station started advertising a contest. Mondays would still be commercial-free, but if they played a commercial, the first person to call in wins $10,000.

I listen to KISS, usually in the morning while getting ready for work and it's in radio station rotation when I'm in the car. At work, most of the time, I listen to Pandora and ESPN. I thought the contest was cool, but I wasn't really motivated to change my listening habits for it.

So last Monday, I get off work and was driving home. The radio was on KISS. A song went off and on came a commercial. I wasn't really paying attention, when all of it sudden it hit me that the commercial was kinda long.

And then my brain kicked into gear.

"Commercial?! Wait. Is it Monday? It's Monday! They're not supposed to be playing commercials. Where's my phone?!"

I started digging into my junky purse with my right hand for my phone while steering with my left hand.

I found the phone with little trouble, but that's where the real trouble started.

Have I mentioned that I hate driving? I'm not good at it and it stresses me out. I don't like talking on the phone and driving at the same time because my attention gets split and it stresses me out trying to concentrate on both things at once. Remember that.

So I got the phone and I'm trying to concentrate on the road, and at the same time, trying to find the icon on the phone screen that would lead to me making a call. I find the icon, press it and get to the phone page.

But there's a phone number already typed in!

Ugh. I guess it was the last number I dialed.

And it wouldn't go away!

I was trying to delete it and drive at the same time and stressing out because I knew time was wasting away and because the stupid, wrong number wouldn't go away.

Then the freaking screen just went black and the phone wouldn't do anything. Argh!

Did I forget to mention that, in the middle of all this, I got honked at because I accidentally drifted into the next lane?

Fun times.

So yeah, I didn't win $10,000. This other lady did. She sounded very excited. Hmmph.

Only me.

Tuesday Links

Since I haven't done this in a bit, here are a few links while I look for my motivation. If anyone finds it, please send it back to me ASAP.

1. I don't think it's any secret how much I love the 80s. I watched this segment on Good Morning America, especially the montage towards the beginning going "Oh! Oh! Oh!"

2. I love how Sesame Street tries to keep the show interesting for parents who watch the show with their kids. And no, the link won't take you to the p0rn crap that someone uploaded when they hacked into Sesame Street's Youtube channel.

3. Sports Illustrated has a tumblr, where they post sports photos old and new. It's kinda really, really cool.

Moneyball mixes together the two things I try to mix together on this here blog - sports and entertainment. So here are two links inspired by the movie/book.

4. Billy Beane, the general manager of the Oakland Athletics, is lauded as a visionary, but really he's like every other GM. He hits on some players and misses on others. Like who?, you might ask. Take a look!

5. Hollywood loves a great sports movie. Actually, Hollywood loves a hit. Here are the highest grossing sports movies.

Separated at Birth?

To the surprise of no one I'm sure, last night, I watched the American League Championship Series between my Texas Rangers and the Detroit Tigers and I had a moment. Michael Young, my all-time favorite baseball player, (and usually clean-shaven) strolled up to the plate and I thought, "OMG, he looks like Teen Wolf!" I'm not crazy, right? Right?

Tuesday Links

1. Should student-athletes be paid? That question has been asked forever it seems like. My initial reaction has always been "no" because I have a hard time seeing how that process would work and because many student-athletes get free educations. But I understand why some think they should or at least the student-athletes who  bring big bucks to their schools and the NCAA. This study puts their worth at six figures! That's something to think about.

2. I'm not a Trekkie or a sci-fi person period, but it's kind of cool to look at the Star Trek gadgets that are no longer fiction.

3. After the first weekend of college football, I kept seeing references to how awful Maryland's uniforms were. I did a little Internet search and found this. Oh my!

4. I'm a nerd. I love trivia, especially the pop culture kind, so it makes my heart happy that VH1's Pop Up Video is returning. Here's the first video.

5. I hate beauty pageants, but the commentary during the swimsuit portion of the Miss Universe Pageant was hilarious, you have to admit.

Old Links

Remember how I whined about being busy? Yeah, still true. However, I did save a some links a few weeks ago, but didn't post them. But they're still cool/interesting even if the info's a bit old.

1. Anne Hathaway raps! I love her.

2. A Cleveland Indian's player was going to miss the birth of his child. Until his teammates stepped in to help.

3. The University of Miami is in deep trouble with the NCAA because a felon alum confessed all the illegal stuff he did for the school to the NCAA. Fascinating reading!

Tuesday Links

I've been busy and now I'm tired, so today's links will be few. But still great.

The Serious

1. I have a degree in sport management. I minored in sociology. These two interests collide in this article about the world of "elite" travel youth travel teams. The madness needs to stop.

The Nostalgic

2. Have I mentioned that I love sports and pop culture? A few times, probably. Which is why I love this roundup of iconic athlete food commercials.

The Funny

3. Seems things didn't work out with the Bachelorette Ashley. Shaking my head. What a shame.

4. Borders could have avoided bankruptcy if only the company executives had followed this guy's advice.

5. Last, but not least, everyone knows the black best friend is the best best friend to have.

Tuesday Links

1. Jaleel White will always be Steve Urkel, but he's not a kid anymore...or a nerd. At least not in Cee Lo Green's new video for Cry Baby. He's a ladykiller, who knows how to cut a rug, yes he is!

2. The NBA owners may have locked out the players, but Kevin Durant is keeping busy. This dunk is ridiculous!

3. I loved the mother-daughter relationship and the rapid-fire pop culture references in Gilmore Girls. I still miss the show, but the show's creator is working on a new project - adapting The Nanny Diaries for ABC. I'm curious to see what she does with a concept that started as a book, then turned into a movie.

4. I wrote about my love for Twitter here and its (probably) unintended usefulness. But Twitter also has benefits for athletes (and other celebrities) and their fans.

5. I had to include this one because it made me laugh. Folks are still passionate about their allegiances to either *NSYNC or the Backstreet Boys. Last time I checked there were almost 900 comments!

As for me, I always have been and always will be an *NSYNC fangirl. ALWAYS!

6. Equal opportunity may soon be extended to the NFL gridiron - in one capacity anyway. Female referees, anyone? I'm down.

7. Think of that movie scene that makes you tear up EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. It might be on this list. A scene from my favorite movie is the first one listed and I got a little misty-eyed just reading about it.

8. This is just too funny not to share. Novak Djokovic is a throwback, that's all. :)