Family outing

A break in the rain and a stat holiday allowed the family G to finally get out of the house and hit the shops on Robson.

What turned out as a routine trip to Robson Street (Vancouver’s much, much smaller version of London’s Oxford Street, New York’s Soho or Tokyo’s Shibuya) for new contact lenses, turned out to be a pretty sweet day. After spending most of our weekends running from family event to family event, or just sitting around taking care of Baby G, I forgot how much I enjoyed crowds, shopping and life outside of the house in general.

For most the discovery of a wicked hot dog vendor, a good coffee and a walk in and out of some hip shops looking for a new pair of shoes is just another day in the city. But for Momma J and I, it was a sign things are getting back to “normal”.  It’s strange how seven weeks of intense parenting can leave you on the outside looking in.

I also managed to take in the CFL’s Western final (Go Lions Go!) with a few good friends yesterday and play a game of hockey (hence the need for new contacts, but more on that some other time).

We’re all heading out to a book signing tomorrow too. Though I’ve appreciated the evenings at home, all of this activity was a nice break from the apartment with all of its distractions.

How to be a good dad

These tips on how to excel as a father seem pretty obvious to me. However, I guess there are people out there who may need this guy’s help.

I do find point number eight pretty amusing though. You can tell this guy has been spending a lot of time in the Ivory Tower chatting with post-something feminists. Making a suggestion like this would be career suicide in almost anywhere I’ve worked.

You could forget going out for beer with the guys, or finding someone besides the new-age chick to chat with at lunch if you proposed a “father’s day” to the boss. Besides there is a fine line between being a proud parent, and one that forces others to listen to a bunch of mundane stuff about a child they don’t really care too much about.