At the Portland Beavers vs Salt Lake Bees baseball game last weekend, the American Red Cross honored a woman for her amazing contribution of 400 blood donations.

But even more amazing was when the woman rolled onto the baseball field in a wheelchair. She was handicapped but still gave far more blood than I could ever even imagine giving!

The last time I tried to give blood was about 3 years ago, and the experience was a nightmare. I hadn't eaten any breakfast and the only thing in my stomach was 2 cups of coffee. My vein closed up after the first test vial, and the gorilla behind the needle did a horrible job of trying to find the vein before I finally asked him to stop. I almost passed out and had a nasty bruise on my arm that turned multiple colors over the next week or so.

Not a fun experience, and I get sweaty palms just thinking about getting poked with a needle.

I'm always challenged when I see heroic acts like this woman's 400 blood donations. It makes me want to shrug of my pathetic needle phobia and step up to the plate to help people who are badly in need of blood. Maybe my kids will need me to give blood for them someday too.

Those of you who know me or have read a few of my previous blog entries know that I'm not a natural-born sports fan. It's not that I don't like sports – I do… it's just that I didn't have many sports-related influences growing up and I lean more towards bicycling, computers or a good drama-action movie rather than footballs these days.

I love watching the Super Bowl (more for the commercials than the game at times), but I rarely watch the games during the season... especially not if a rerun of The Matrix or Lord of The Rings is on cable. In fact, I can probably count on one hand the number of official ball games I've been to in my entire life.

That being said, I want the situation to be different for my kids. For me that's meant making some intentional choices to be more involved in my kid's sports events. I've coached soccer for a couple of years for my daughter's teams, and was very involved this year in helping with my son's T-Ball team.

So for Father's Day this year I chose to take the family out to a baseball game. The Portland Beavers were playing a home game in PGE Park against the Salt Lake Bees, and Comcast was sponsoring the event with free Beaver's hats for the first 1,000 dads who showed up.

The hats were gone by the time we arrived, but we still had a lot of fun. The Beavers made some good plays and led most of the way through the 6th inning. I say through the 6th inning because that was about the point where my two youngest kids were bored out of their minds, and we decided to call it quits. They had a lot of fun through the first two innings, but after that it was "Dad, how much longer is the game going to take?" every three minutes, and I didn't want them to be miserable on Father's Day.

Two innings were plenty though to explain a few things about the game to my kids sitting next to me (when the VERY loud guy behind me stopped hollering for a minute here and there), and to see several good plays by both teams. They watched the pitching speed monitor like a hawk, and saw a few foul balls fly up over our heads. We had a great time together!

We had in-field reserved seats right behind home plate on the right side of the field, in row R, which gave us a great view of a home run from the Beavers out into left field, and several line drives right up the third base line.

Next time we go I'll reserve tickets online ahead of time though at WebTicketStore.com or a similar service – it would have been great to be a few rows closer to the action and also sitting on the aisle side. Bathroom breaks are inevitable with kids, and then there's the beer run for mom and dad, and licorice and popcorn for the kids. With six people to crawl over each time, and... well, you get the idea. Aisle seating would have been a big plus.

I'll bring my mitt next time too, and hopefully will be lucky enough to catch a foul ball.

I hope you had a great Father's Day yesterday too!

Can you believe how ridiculous some adults act when they have to face the consequences for their bad choices?

Take Paris Hilton's recent brush with the law. She was pulled over a while back for reckless driving and sentenced to 36 months of probation, alcohol education and $1,500 in fines. Do you think she learned her lesson? Nope - she continues to drive even though her license was suspended, and finally ends up in jail.

She literally screams at the judge's recent decision to keep her in jail (she must think she's above the law because after all she's a hot celebrity) after the sheriff unlawfully released her a few days ago due to some "unknown medical conditions".

Pretty ridiculous if you ask me. Well, she's finally getting a good dose of reality behind bars.

Now I admit that I don't know anything about her childhood or the kind of parents that raised her, but I do know for certain that I don't want any of my kids to turn out that way! I want them to learn at an early age that there are consequences in life for the choices they make.

I feel it's my job as a dad to raise kids who are prepared for the realities of every day living, which means letting them experience the consequences for the choices they make.

I'm not talking about letting them do something that would cause them any lasting or physical damage. If a car is coming and they continue to walk out into the street, I'm not going to let them "experience reality". I'm going to yell at them to get out of the street!

But if one of my kids decides to be disrespectful to me or their mother, then they get to experience the consequence for that choice. For my oldest daughter that meant losing the privilege of a sleep-over last night with one of her best friends. After the third warning within the span of about 20 minutes over an issue involving an argument she was having with her sister, it was time for her to experience the consequences of her disrespectfulness.

If she doesn't learn this now while she's young and the consequences are minimal, then she might venture into the workplace someday as an adult and lose her job after being disrespectful to her boss. That's a much more painful consequences, and one that I hope she won't have to experience because she will already have learned that lesson as a child.

Next Monday my oldest daughter's class will walk 6 miles in groups of 4 friends on their version of "The Oregon Trail".

They'll pull a home made wagon made to look like the historical horse-drawn wagons, crossing over imaginary rivers (roads) and mountains (hills).

This evening after work I got together with the other 3 dads in my daughters group to assemble the wagon and make it look as realistic as possible. We had already made a trip to Home Depot last week to stock up on supplies, and with power tools in hand we were ready to build a wagon.

Our supplies consisted of:

• plastic wagon - 2 seater
• peg board for cutting out wheels - 1 sheet, 1-foot by 4-feet
• half-inch flexible PVC pipe for bending in arcs under the white sheet cover - 4 pieces.
• brackets to attach the PVC pipe to the wagon - 8
• old white sheet for the wagon cover
• 2" x 2" wood slats to form a frame to sit on top of the wagon sides, and to hold the PVC brackets - 4 pieces.
• handles to attach to the wagon for lifting it over rivers - 4
• screws and washers - too many to count
• cardboard for the sides, made to look like wood with cutouts for the wheels.

We also replaced the plastic wagon handle with a wooden version of our making, and the girls colored the cardboard sides and wheels to make them look like wood. An "Oregon or Bust" sign on the rear end completed the production, and they were ready to take it for a test drive.

This was a lot of fun and gave me a chance to meet one of my daughter's dads for the first time. It felt good to team up with a few other dads to build something together.

I wonder if that's how great it felt back in the olden days when a community got together and built each other's houses one at a time. Comradre, friendship, teamwork, and loyalty. Values to live by, and this fun little event gave us a brief taste of the good life.

About 8 years ago I bought a black Honda lawn mower from Costco for $269. It was one of my first "man purchases" and I've mowed hundreds of lawns with it (well, actually about 3 lawns for each of the three houses we've lived in since then, but hundreds of times on each one... you get the idea).

My mower has served me well, but as I mowed the lawn yesterday I noticed a trail of grass clippings flying up from the front left side of the mower. Upon closer inspection, I discovered the clippings were coming from a few holes that had rusted through the blade housing, near the front left wheel. The holes were actually pretty large, so they must have been plugged with dried grass for some time.

I called my wife over to show her the damage, and told her "Honey, I need a new lawn mower, and that's what I'd like for Father's Day... oh, and I want to pick it out." Fortunately for me, my birthday is also in June, so I can combine Father's Day with my birthday for a double-whammy gift wish list.

I have my eye on a self-propelled Yard-Man mower that's on sale at Walmart. Our current lawn is pretty small and only takes me 10 minutes to mow the front and another 15 for the back, but I'm planning ahead for a mower that'll accomodate a larger lawn in the future. I also like the larger rear wheels that make turning a lot easier.

Last year it was my grill. I had one of those $150 CharBroiler grills that you pick up from Home Depot. I had replaced the burner 2 or 3 times, and the inside was thickly coated with "grilling goo" that had accumulated over several years of grilling burgers, chicken, and steak. My wife bought me a new stainless steel gas grill with porcelain burner plates, temperature monitor, side burner... the works. I absolutely love it!

Do you have a son or daughter who is 9 or older, who thinks they're turning 13? Notice how when they hang out with their friends for a couple hours they come back a completely different person?

If you don't mind my being honest, I have to admit that lately I've felt more and more clueless as a dad when it comes to my oldest daughter. I love her dearly, as I know you do yours, but all of the tricks I've learned so far seem to no longer work with her.

She goes through these phases where she feels compelled to challenge everything that me or my wife says, and argues tooth and nail about every decision we make. The phases last a week or two, and then she's back to her sweet angel self.

By then she's typically grounded from everything we can think of (friends, TV, computer, and Nintendo DS), and I've completely lost any resemblance of a kind, loving, and patient father.

I'm sure this is all normal behavior for a young child developing their independence, but I don't want it to be a dividing factor in our relationship. It doesn't feel healthy to always be losing my temper and getting in these big arguments with her over every little thing.

I asked my wife for advice, and she felt I needed to listen more to her instead of jumping on her case and dishing out consequences for bad behavior. I'm working on that, and I'm also trying to spend more time connecting with her before bedtime (which seems to be when she most wants to talk).

What works for you?

If you don't have a son or daughter at least the age of 10, then please hold off on replying. No offense, but I'm looking for veteran advice here guys - from someone who has been through it and figured out some healthy ways to cope with their children's budding independence and attitude problems. After all, I thought I knew the game myself up until now...

The headline "Father killed trying to break up fight involving son" caught my attention this morning, as reported by the Houston Chronicle. Apparently a dad stepped in the way of a bullet intended for his son, who was in an argument out in front of their house.

Wow, talk about the ultimate heroic act! He makes a split second decision that saves his son but costs him his life. It's altogether tragic for his dad, but it loudly begs the most obvious question to me: "Would I do the same for my son?"

I remember when my first child came along almost 10 years ago, and I would have these stress dreams about crazy things happening to her that were out of my control. Or I would be driving along in traffic and a violent scenario would come to mind where I envisioned losing her to some freak accident. It always shook me to my core, and I found myself thinking through how I would react if that type of situation actually became reality.

Maybe it's because we're constantly bombarded with crime and violence from the media every day. Maybe it's more personal than that, such as the dad I went to college with getting shot to death when he tried to defend his disabled son from the jeering comments from the car next to them. Maybe it's because we just care so deeply for our family members and the thought of anything happening to them is more than we can bare.

My 5-year-old son started T-Ball a few weeks ago, and is learning the basic skills such as throwing, catching, and batting.

He has two older sisters who play Barbie, Littlest Pet Shop, princess dress up, and all the other "girl things" that little girls spend their time doing. So it's fun to see my son get excited about a "boy activity".

His coach has also encouraged parents to jump in and help with practice, which basically gives me a chance to play ball with him twice a week for an hour. I've asked him a few times after practice which part of practice he liked best and why, and his answer is always "because I got to do it with you!" Dads love to hear those words

Now I must admit that I'm not a sports junkie by any means. I'm not even very athletic, although I do like karate and cycling a lot, and I work out quite a bit. But I've just never really been into sports that much. I lean more towards technology than ESPN.

So when it came time to help my son learn to catch, I called up my sports junkie buddy Tom and asked him for a pointer.

Here's a tip he gave me for helping young kids learn to catch a ball: Aside from lack of coordination in many young kids, their fear of getting hit with the ball is their largest obstacle. Simply having them hold their mits out to the side is a good way to ease this fear and help them focus on the ball. If they miss the catch, the ball doesn't smack them in the chest... it just rolls by and they can run and pick it up. Once their coordination improves and they start catching more than they're missing, then you can have them move the mit in front of them.

Another trick we use in T-Ball practice to get them in the habit of trapping the ball in their mits is to use the "Alligator" analogy, where the trapping hand and the mit is the Alligator's mouth that wants to chomp into the ball. Kids love that one!

I found a great use for the small, round trampoline that my folks gave our kids for Christmas this last year - a rebounding backstop for baseball pitching! I set it up in our backyard and when I pitch the ball it bounces off the tramp and sends it right back to me. No more chasing after baseballs in the bushes, and it keeps the pace plenty fast for short attention spans of 5-year-olds.

Thanks for the tip Tom, and for those of you sports fan dads reading this blog, please leave a tip of your own to help me teach my son (and daughters) how to play better ball.

I took my family to the Oregon coast this last weekend from Thursday to Sunday for a min-vacation... fully expecting the beach house we rented to have wifi, or at least a cable Internet connection. I figured I'd be able to sneak in some laptop time in the wee morning hours, before anyone woke up, and before my wife could catch me in the act and conclude the my work is still more important than my family.

But would you believe they had zero Internet connectivity?!? I finally found a coffee shop on the 3rd day that had free wifi, so I could at least check email and see if I had sold any software licenses, check on my online Java class I teach at PCC, check my affiliate advertising revenues for the dozen or so websites I run, check the stock market, and my account balances.... dang! - am I pathetic or what? Definitely overloaded and in need of some scaling back.

The almost-zero-Internet weekend turned out to be just what I needed though; and just what my family needed too. Once I made it through the first few rounds of technology withdrawals, I was able to focus on my family, relax, and even realized how nice life can be without my web-enabled vices.

We went for a long family bike ride, climbed sand dunes, ran down sand dunes, grilled steak and chicken kabobs, watched movies, and drank wine. I finished reading Babyproofing Your Marriage, and was even the one who suggested a shopping trip to the outlet mall in Newport - something I knew would help recharge my wife's batteries. We had a really great time!

Life seemed full of bliss, until we got home and reality found its target. The battery on our Sequoia is about 5 years old, and for some reason it decided to go belly up on us just as I finished vacuuming the sand out of it. My wife went to start it to get some groceries, and it wouldn't even turn over the engine.

I put it on the charger for a couple hours and it started right up, and my neighbor used to be a mechanic so he hooked up his voltmeter to verify that the alternator was working fine. But he suspected the battery was on its last leg and suggested we replace it. So I headed over to GI Joe's and bought a new one.

As I was putting it in the truck, I didn't notice that the terminals on the new battery were opposite from the old battery. Positive was on the left and negative on the right, instead of the other way around. When I hooked up the cables, sparks flew, the horn went off, and the 120 amp alternator fuse blew to pieces.

But wait, the story gets even better.

I took the battery back to Joe's (I was still in their parking lot) and swapped them for the old one. They didn't carry the fuse however, so I called my wife to come pick me up. We drove around town for a half hour or so at around 6:30, only to discover that all the shops close at 6:00 p.m. on Sundays.

The Sequoia spent the night in Joe's parking lot, and I had to call a tow truck in the morning to take it into the shop to replace the fuse. It turned out to be the kind that's bolted in underneath, but you can't tell by looking at it. In fact, I couldn't even tell after breaking it completely to pieces trying to remove it with needle nose pliers.

Two hundred and ten dollars later (pulled from our emergency savings account), and two hours late to work, we finally had it working again and life went back to normal.

I had to work until 6:30 to make up for being late for work (since I had used up my vacation time on Thurs and Fri), but the ordeal has passed and my wife can resume carting our kids around to their various activities - such as T-ball tomorrow afternoon for my 5-year-old son.

Life is good though, and I'm grateful for the chance to get away for the weekend without all the distractions of reality, and just enjoy my family.

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Looking back on first quarter results as a dad left me with a list of goals for this quarter.

Does that sounds too much like what a CEO would say? Well, I figure that if frequent evaluation and adjustment of goals based on previous performance and desired future results is part of the success circle at work, then why wouldn’t it apply on the home front too?

Here are the goals and principles I hope to achieve and stand by this quarter:

1. Say "Yes" as much as possible, even when "No" comes naturally or is easier.

I put this at the top of my list because being a natural pessimist means that the first word out of my mouth when my kids ask for a treat after dinner, or for the ice cream cone at McDonald’s, or to play a game after work, is usually "No". That is, unless I snap out of my business-focused mentality and remind myself that these are my kids, and that the effort I put into making their lives enjoyable now will pay off in huge dividends as they grow older.

I know that saying "Yes" isn't always the right answer – I don't have enough money to buy them all the things they ask for, and I can't always let them stay up late watching movies or playing with toys.

I'm mainly referring to the frequent extras that they ask me for that require me to invest time into their lives, or the small requests they make each day like "Dad, can we get a hot dog when we're done buying paint?" (which they asked me recently during a Home Depot trip, where the hot dog stand sits outside right by the Entrance – those guys at Home Depot are smart!)

2. Listen to my wife about family stuff - she's the resident expert.

At work, when it comes to computers and software, I'm the expert. But at home, my wife is the expert – she's a seasoned pro and is the most in-tune to the needs of our family than anyone else by several orders of magnitude.

Her expertise is an invaluable resource that can help me be a better dad, if I'm willing to ask, and more importantly if I’m willing to not let my feathers get ruffled when she corrects my parenting skills, or points out areas where I'm dropping the ball. I need to remind myself that she's thinking first of the kids, and second or third about my ego (if at all).

3. Stay fit.

I am 2 months away from turning 39, and my goal is to be in the best shape of my life by the time I turn 40. I want to increase the chances that I'll be around as long as possible for my family, and hope to have as much energy as possible so I can keep up with my kids and be an active part of their lives.

Since last October 2006, I've been bicycling and working out at the gym several times a week. I've lost 14 lbs and 35 points of cholesterol, and as soon as I drop another 10 lbs I'll be exactly where I want to be.

But I have to stick with it, since the pounds come back on fast at my age, and the cardio goes downhill fast if I take even a couple weeks off.

4. Apologize when I make mistakes.

Did you know that it's ok to apologize when you make a mistake? And you will (I make them frequently).

I want my kids to develop humility, and that’s something that has to be modeled, not preached. That means seeking forgiveness in the heat of the moment, not after my ego has had a chance to cool off.

5. Be a coach (and an automatic hero).

T-ball starts today for my son Regan, and it won't be long before soccer season starts up again. Last year I coached soccer for Delaney's team and absolutely loved it, and coached Bridgett's team a couple years before that.

I knew almost zip about soccer when I agreed to coach the team. I literally was on google the week before, looking up the rules and trying to find some good drills and game plays! At age 7, the girls figured I knew everything regardless, and we ended up having a great time.

I figure I'm going to be there at the practices anyway, so I might as well contribute and have an impact by being a coach or a coaching assistant. And let me tell you, it's one of the most rewarding things to see a kid improve and gain confidence in themselves, and to know that you were a big part of making that happen.