We Can Beat Your Kid in Foot Race but You Can't Beat Father Time

Let’s talk about being old.

Sometimes hubris can get the best of you, especially as you get older. My son had football practice yesterday and he was kind of hobbling to the car afterward. I asked him what was wrong. He told me he was sore because they had to run the 200 in gym class and he pushed himself. I told him that it is good to push when you feel like it, and they did have to do some extra conditioning at practice last night. When we got out of the car and returned home, I asked him how he did in the 200. He said he was pretty happy with a time of 38 seconds. That's pretty good considering my son is not into running at all. He said he beat some of his friends, and then he started talking a big game to me. He was telling me that I couldn't run a 200 faster than him. He didn't say the actual words, but he was basically calling me old, or at least that's how I felt. I told him that I could beat that time last night. I mentioned to him that I was on the move a bunch that day, and that I had run five miles at noon. But he kept persisting. He kept telling me that there was no way I could beat him. He was sure about it. So, I told him to go wherever he felt like it was 200 meters within our neighborhood. He walked a distance that we both assumed was 200 meters. He told me to go and off I went.

I finished in 14 seconds.

After some guessing at the distance, we came to the conclusion that he only walked about 100 yards. I knew 14 seconds was way too fast, and he was not having it that I could more than halve his time. So he walked a little further. He pushed it out a bit. He told me to go and off I went.

This time it took me about 41 seconds. But, we found out that this was too far. He went about 300 meters. At this point my wife came outside because she could hear us talking. She asked what was going on and we explained the situation. In her infinite wisdom she told me to turn my watch on and walk 200 meters. Then we could run back. It was perfect. My son also decided he wanted to race me at this point. Keep in mind, he was coming off a 200 meter race in gym and football practice. I was coming off a five mile run earlier in the day and I had just sprinted 300 meters and 100 yards. We were both tired. But, I let my hubris get the best of me. A neighbor came outside and asked if they were seeing a race. I boldly proclaimed, "you're about to see a 41 year old distance runner take on a 12 year old football player and win!". I was in my bag. So, after we got the correct distance we took our mark. I let my son tell us to start and off we went.

We were both sprinting. He was ahead of me for a bit. We made the curve and that was when he slowed and I pulled ahead. It was a slight uphill, and as I passed him I said, "you can't handle these hills like this old man!". He was mad and he slowed to a stop. I kept going because I'm competitive. I also felt, stupidly, that I had to prove a point. I smoked him, but he had stopped at about 100 meters and walked. I was going so fast my head was spinning. My asthma was acting up. I had some tingling and tightness in my legs. When I made it to the end, I put my head on my car and took a ton of deep breaths, just trying to catch my breath. Again, I'm no sprinter, I'm a distance runner. I'm used to going slow and turning it on at the end of a five or six mile run. I can run half marathons all day, but sprinting is not my thing.

When we went inside I was a sweaty mess. My chest was sore. I had almost fully caught my breath, but the asthma was hitting me hard. I kept asking my son why we did this. He was fine by the way, just tired legs from practice. He was even smirking at me a bit. I would say, when I saw the smirk, that I beat him. He didn't care. Part of me assumes that he knew I'd win, but he wanted to see how far he could push me.

This morning is a rest day for me, and I couldn't be happier. I hobbled out of bed. I'm hanging onto the railing when I walk down the steps. My wife just asked how my legs were doing. I don't think I can do this sprinting stuff all the time like I thought. Being in your early 40's can be a bummer, and this is a prime example. All I did was run the equivalent of one lap around a track and I'm kind of spent. It has to be the sprinting that is doing this to me today because I don't feel like this after running double digits at my own pace. Getting older is fun, but it is also a drag. This morning is one of those bummer moments for me. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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Getting Sick When Your Old Sucks

Getting a cold, or any kind of minor infection for that matter, after you are in your 30's, I'm now 40 by the way, absolutely stinks.

I had a pretty nasty head cold on Father's Day. I had the whole deal. Sore throat, stuffy nose, a cough and other congestion. I did not have COVID. I took multiple home tests and they all came back negative. After about three days the cold subsided and I felt relatively normal. We left for a family vacation to Lake Okoboji and I thought I was in the clear. But on the third day we were there I felt a tickle in my throat. I assumed it was from the air quality since there was an alert. But the tickle stuck around. Then it got worse. Then I was coughing a good amount. I took another COVID test when we got home and it was negative yet again.

This damn cough was a hindrance. I could go about my daily routine with little to no problem. I would be wiped out by bedtime, but I do a lot. I run five days a week, I take my kids to practices and camps, clean the house, do laundry, grocery shop, all the stuff an at home parent does. So I just figured I was tired from my everyday schedule. But the cough was always there. And then I could not only feel it in my chest, but I could hear it. It sounded like I had sand in my chest and throat. Every time I'd laugh, I'd cough. Every time I took a deep breath, I'd cough. Every time I had dairy, I'd cough. The cough was omnipresent. It was there constantly. I had promised my wife and my folks that if it were still around after that vacation that I'd go to the doctor. I still gave myself another week before caving.

I went to my nurse practitioner this morning. We had a nice visit and we did the usual appointment stuff. And I have been feeling better the past two days so I was hoping for good news. I got the opposite. It is an infection. No bronchitis, no COVID, nothing horrible, but still annoying. She also told me that this could be allergy induced asthma. Even with the temperatures being relatively high here in STL, allergens are still out and blooming. I had never considered this to even be an option. So, along with some antibiotics, I now have an inhaler I have to take before and after working out. I was also given a steroid to fight the infection and loosen the congestion.

The kicker in all this is, my nurse practitioner told me that this is an unfortunate side of aging. Again, I'm only 40. But the way she explained it all made sense. I have two young kids, 11 and 7, who are germ factories. I do a lot of stuff meaning I put myself in the way of germs willingly. I am a coach who is around other 11 and 7 year old's who's caregivers may not be as into vaccines or medicine like my family is. There is any number of reasons. I was also told that it takes longer to recover from this stuff now. An infection from a couple of years ago would have moved its way out of me within five days. We are on almost a month now. My kids get over this stuff in three days. Not me. This is the stuff I feared as I got older. People warned me, but I didn't want to believe them. I figured it was just them and I could rise above it. I know that to be not true anymore.

The fact is I'm old. I will stay sick longer. I will feel worse longer. But I also need to accept it and deal with it. It is a part of life, just a bummer part. Here's to getting old I guess. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

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SeedSing Classic: I, Bald Man

I am a bald man.

I think I have made that pretty clear on the website and on the podcast. I am not complaining about this either. At first it was frustrating. I used to have dreadlocks, and when I cut those off, I grew my hair out like all millennials used to do. But I noticed in my mid twenties that I was losing my hair. The anger subsided quick, and I just kind of dealt with it. What else could I do.

When my hair was first thinning out I tried to keep the cut short, to kind of blend it in. That worked for a while. I still have some hair in my wedding photos. Pretty soon after my wedding and honeymoon, I began to lose more and more hair. At this time I started to shave it with an electric shaver. My wife would cut it, or I would do it from time to time. I would forget a lot, and my hair would look rough. But when it got to that point, boom I turned on the shaver and took care of business. After some time, after my kids were born, my wife took over shaving my head. She would shave my head and trim my beard. It was a two for one type deal.

One night I decided that I wanted to see what it looked like when I used a razor. I'm not talking anything fancy, no straight razors or anything like that. I would use a BIC, or something similar. And it worked. My wife and I did not know what I would look like, if I would look any different, and I didn't. Shaving your head totally bald doesn't look much different from a close shave. The only real difference is you can see all the knicks and cuts in your head. You also need to use some kind of aftershave, or those cuts get even worse. This has become my new norm now. I shave my head, usually, once a week. I will go on a long run, and my cool down is a shower and shaving my head.

I come here today to tell you a tale of "horror" about waiting too long to shave your head. Keeping a schedule is key. You need to stay on it. You need to make sure that you do it the same day every week. It is just like shaving your face for work. If you miss a week, it will be a pain. That happened to me today. We are getting work done in our home, and we needed to be out by last Sunday, the 14th. I figured I would shave my head when we got to my folks house. No big deal. Well, the moving of objects out of the bedrooms in my home, and setting things out of the way so the workers wouldn't have to, took way more out of me than I thought it would. I was pretty exhausted when we got to my parents house. Add on the fact that my kids had to be cleaned, and my wife and I did too, things got out of hand quick. I got our clothes in the house, moved the stuff into our room in the basement, gave my daughter a bath and decided I was going to sit down before showering. When I finally got around to cleaning myself, I was too tired to shave my head. I just decided to do it the next day.

Well, the next day turned into an entire week. I just kept forgetting. What with my new living situation, getting my kids to and from school, stopping by the house to check on it daily, training for a marathon and trying to get some sleep, shaving my head became an afterthought, until today. I finally had time. My kids are on spring break, my parents were willing to watch them and I had a scheduled rest day. I just finished shaving my head, and it took over 30 minutes.

It hurt. I have cuts all over my head. I had to slop on the aftershave, and it hurts. The water was freezing cold by the end in the shower. When I first started to shave, the razor felt like it was cutting grass for the first time in two years. I would move the razor two to three inches on my head, and the razor would fill up with hair. I had to keep cleaning the hair out. It took forever to get one side of the top of my head barely shaved. I kept going over the same spot three and four times with little to no movement. I finally got through the top part of my head, and the back was untouched. Mind you, I kept going over the back with the razor, it was too full of hair to work. I kept at it, changing midway through for a less dull blade, and that helped, but man did it scratch my head up bad. I could see blood on the white razor. I knew it was bad, and when I finally, thankfully, got my head shaved properly, my teeth were chattering, and my head was on fire with all the razor cuts and burns. It was brutal, but I got it done, and I feel okay now.

I am writing this today to say, if you are a bald man like me and you have decided to shave your head, stay on schedule. I do not want anyone to have to deal with what I did today. It was all on me, I did not stay on course. But I will from now on. This was not fun, and it took way too much time. Stay on schedule. That is the lesson I am trying to pass on today.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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If You are in St. Louis, and Love Cats, Go Check Out Mauhaus Cat Cafe

My daughter is obsessed with cats. She loves them. I, unfortunately, do not. I have never really liked them. My mom has always been very allergic and that set me off as a kid. I did not like them because of what they did to my mom. I also do not like their attitude. My sister in law stated it perfectly, "dogs are roommates, cats are landlords". Truer words have never been spoken.

Cats do things on their terms. They will let you pet them when they want to be pet. They go to the bathroom indoors. The owner has to clean it up when it hardens. They play when they want. They climb wherever they damn well please. Cats do what they want when they want and no one will tell them to stop. Or if they do, cats look at them like they are the dumbest people in the world.

Yet, my daughter loves them. And since she loves them so much I have done research. My dad has done research too. I'm still not a cat person, but I am more willing to talk about them and pet them. I will never own one, but I am more willing to be around them in small doses. My dad found a spot here in Saint Louis that is perfect for a small dose meeting. We go out for coffee twice a week. This is our thing. We have hit up almost every hot spot in my hometown. But we had never been to this place called the Mauhaus Cat Cafe. We looked past it because of the CAT on the signage. But my kids are off this week for winter break. We are looking for things to do. My daughter hasn't had a day that has been specific for her. She has been along for the ride all week.

We broke down and took her and my son to the Mauhaus Cat Cafe this morning. My mom could not go so it was me, my kids and my dad. Luckily, Mauhaus still has a rule in place that you have to be masked. This eased my willingness to take my daughter. Any allergy I may have was negated by my N95. And they are strict about it, which I very much like. So we made our reservation. We had an hour to sit and play with cats. They have very strict, but very smart rules. You cannot pick up the cats. You cannot force the cats to come to you. You are the tenant in this scenario, and that is the way it should be. You can pet the cats and play with them if they choose to play with you. Right after we ordered our drinks we found a table and sat down. There was a cat already chilling right there. This hooked my daughter more than she already was. My son lit up immediately when the cat approached and nuzzled him. The cat did the same to me for a minute but quickly returned to my son. My dad was standoffish so this made the cats stay away, which is exactly what he wanted. We took my kids there for them, mainly for my daughter. And she loved every single second we were there. She was walking around to all the cats and playing with them. When one would sit down by her she would pet it. She kept telling me to take her picture. This is her utopia. I could see her face smiling behind her mask. It never left her face the entire hour we were there. She is still telling me about the cats we saw today. My son was a little nervous, but after that cat nuzzled him he was hooked. That cat was his buddy. It stuck around him for almost the full hour. And when that cat moved on another would come right to him. He might not want to admit it, but he had just as good a time as his sister. I was good with the few cats that made an appearance towards me. I did have to move my lanyard from my pocket because cats kept pawing at it. But otherwise it was fine. If a cat approached me I pet it and we both moved on quickly.

This was a perfect place to give my daughter her cat fix. She got a full hour to play with so many different cats. And as I said, she was smiling and happy the whole time. If you or your kids like cats and coffee, I recommend the Mauhaus Cat Cafe. The staff was great, the coffee was solid and my kids were thrilled. We had a very good time. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

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Today is a Good Day for My Awesome Wife to Turn 40

Yesterday I turned 40. Today my wife is doing the same. I love that our birthdays are a day apart. Hell, even our dog has a birthday on the 15th. Three in a row and it has always worked great.

Anyway, my wife is going through the same thing I did yesterday. She is much better at handling life milestones than me. She doesn't dwell on it too much. She uses so much energy focusing on my birthday that I think she may be a bit too tired to celebrate hers. I do everything I can to make it a special day. Massages, ordering or cooking dinner, keeping the kids out of her hair, anything to make her day as stress free as possible.

That is not the point of my blog today. I have sung my wife's praises multiple times on the site, and today will be no different. My wife is the best. I met her fifteen years ago, almost to the day of her birthday. We had our first date in December of 2007. It was the best night of my life. I tried to be all cool and hip and she saw right through me. I knew from that day on that I could be myself around her. She liked me enough to accept a date, and trying to be a little cooler was not working for me. When I relaxed it was great. We watched "The Office". We had dinner. We talked. It was great. There was an instant ease. I felt as comfortable around her as anyone I had ever met. She was easy to talk to and easy to have fun with. That has continued for the past fifteen years. Each new year of our relationship, my love grows deeper and deeper for her. She is my rock. She is the engine that runs our family. She has given me two kids. She was the one who suggested I become a stay at home dad over eight years ago. She works her butt off to provide for us and she continues to kick ass at her job. She is an attentive mom to our kids. She is at every sports game, gymnastics, soccer game and any other activity our kids have that she can make it to. She is an even more attentive wife. She is always there for me. In good and bad times she is there with a smile, joke or words of affirmation. Our little squabbles and "arguments" end so fast because she has become even more forgiving these past fifteen years. I mean, she pulled out all the stops yesterday. She ordered lunch for us. She came to pick-up. She dealt with bath time with our daughter. She was a great dinner date. It was perfect because she is as close to perfection as it gets. She is one of the smartest people I have ever been around. She is quick to help with homework. She will indulge me when I go off on politics and sports. She has a keen sense of how to deal with my nonsense when I think I am being smart. She also happens to be beautiful. I look at pictures of her and am amazed that she was willing to marry me. I am a beast and she is a true beauty. Every year she gets more and more beautiful.

My wife is the absolute best. I want to sing her praises from the hills. I don't have many hills nearby, but I do have a blog and I can do that here. These past fifteen years have been a dream come true for me. I am a better person for meeting and marrying my wife. While 40 may have been weird for me, my wife has not shown any signs that it is affecting her at all. She is a rock. She knows how to handle herself. I love you. Happy Birthday. And here's to 40 more birthdays, and then some. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

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Today is a Good Day to Turn 40

I turned 40 today.

I am not a big birthday person. I never really have been. Birthdays are cool when you're younger. You get to have a party, invite some friends over, go to dinner and get gifts. It is fun. I have a very good memory of a birthday when I was a child. It was 1996. I was turning 14. I had a small group of friends over, we went to Old Country Buffet and then headed back to my house. I wanted to watch the Heisman ceremony that night. Charles Woodson won it. It was great. Then my friends and I watched Michigan basketball beat number 1 Duke. I was ecstatic. I had a blast playing video games and hanging out with my friends after all the good sports news. But that was 14. Birthdays since then have been fine, but nothing too wild. When I turned 18 it was a small gathering and a dinner. 21 brought a snowstorm to Saint Louis. My brothers were all in town so that was cool. But I do not drink and the taste of beer that night turned me off forever. I got my wisdom teeth out right before 25 because I was going to be taken off my folks insurance. I started dating my wife shortly after that and she feels similarly to birthdays as I do. But she also likes to celebrate mine for me. We have done some fun birthday stuff. We went to Memphis when we turned 30. We did that again this past weekend as an early birthday present to both of us. I have gone to a few Grizzlies games on or near my bday. I usually go to dinner with my folks, which I will be doing tonight. At the start of the pandemic my wife did an excellent job of celebrating our birthdays and making it as normal as possible. But this one just has a different feel.

40 is a milestone. It has been a long time. 40 was when I would see all those "over the hill" cards when I was a kid. It feels like getting over a hump. I am already all creaky from running when I wake up, but I felt a little more creaky this morning. My oldest brother texted me and said that I am officially old now. It was in jest and I laughed, but he is also right. Other people I know who have just hit 40 this year warned me about it. I also did not want to leave my 30's. My 30's were great. My wife was actually talking about this this morning. Our son was 1 month away from turning 1 when we turned 30. My wife and I have celebrated our fifth and tenth anniversary, both in Mexico, in our 30's. My daughter was born right before we turned 33. I ran my first marathon at 38. Michigan has been a solid football team, save for 2020, all in my 30's. The Grizzlies are on the come up. Science has been crazy advanced in the last decade. I have found out who my true friends are this past decade. I have grown up emotionally and maturely. I don't do the nonsense that I used to anymore. I have purchased my most recent car on my own. I've made new friends in my 30's. I've done a lot in the past 10 years. I don't feel fully ready to enter a new decade. But I don't have a choice. This is life. We get older everyday. I have, and will, accept it. But it has a weird feel to it. I am just waiting for the shoe to drop and the pains and aches to become commonplace. But I am also optimistic, at least a little. Running will not stop. I see people much older than me still running. My kids are still young enough and we have plenty of time. My folks are still around, as are my brothers and sisters in law. My nieces and nephews are doing cool shit everyday that I get to be involved with. I am back to going to concerts and live comedy shows. I feel better about my anxiety and OCD. 40 is different. 40 is older. But 40 is also great. The older you get the more I appreciate things. This is a bad and good thing.

I just wanted to vent this afternoon. Thanks for listening. And here's to 40. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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Vacation, All I Ever Wanted

I'm going on vacation next week. This will be my first real vacation in about two years. I did go to Gulf Shores last year, but that was frightening. I understand that COVID is still fully out there too. I got my second booster and I still wear a mask at most indoor places. I'm not going to go full on and act like the pandemic is over, but I am overly excited about this vacation because it feels like a real one.

This feels like the first real vacation I have had since my wife and I went to Mexico for our tenth anniversary three years ago. Sure, my kids are coming with us this year, but they are older and more self reliant now. They can entertain themselves. They know when to let me be. They understand that my wife and I need time just the two of us. They get it.

I am stoked. I am pumped. We are going to Indianapolis for two days, Ann Arbor for a day, then we meet my oldest brother and his wife and daughters for a day in Traverse City and two days on Mackinac Island. I have gone to Michigan forever, but these are spots I've only been to a handful of times, and as for Traverse City and Mackinac, I've never been. It is going to be cool to see a different side of Michigan than what I am used to.

I'm interested to see how much changes from the UP. We have always gone to Bessemer and Wakefield. Hell, we spend time in Hurley, Wisconsin. But those are off the beaten path hidden gems. Seriously guys, if you haven't gone up that way, it rules. It's got some dope bluffs to climb, Lake Superior is right there, the groceries are cheap and the cabins at the chalets are divine. But this time our destination seems more touristy and I'm fully in for all that entails.

I haven't done the tourist thing since Mexico. I can't wait to go to Zingerman's and Krazy Jim's Blimpy Burger in Ann Arbor. I will also be taking both of my kids to the M Den and going to The Big House to take too many pictures. In Traverse City my brother has rented a canoe for us to use the day we are there. I haven't been on a canoe since I was 19. I feel like I'm going to love it. We are staying in a fancy log cabin there as well. I'm sure it is going to be rad and we will be roasting marshmallows at nighttime. And then we have Mackinac. All I know is, we have to take a ferry to where we are staying, there are no cars allowed, you have to walk and bike everywhere and that we are staying in a dope spot on the island. My son learned how to ride a two wheel bike for this trip. My daughter is more than capable on a bike with training wheels. My wife and I will get to go on night walks after the kids are in bed. I plan on taking her on a date if I can get my nieces to watch my kids for a few hours. It is going to be great, and I'm sure I'll have plenty to write about when I get back.

I just wanted to leave you all with my excitement of what I believe to be my first real trip since 2019. I'm taking next week off from writing, since I will be traveling. But like I said, I plan on having plenty to say when I return. I will see you all in a little over a week. Enjoy your week off and I'll enjoy my vacation. See you soon. 

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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I'm Here to Praise my Wife of Thirteen Years

Thirteen years ago I got married. It was the best day of my life. Today we are, obviously, celebrating our anniversary. Today is my ode to my wonderful wife.

My wife rules. She is the best. She is the greatest wife. It has been scientifically proven by myself that no one is even close to her level. She is smart, funny and beautiful. She makes me laugh every single day. She does stuff that still surprises me. We have been together for 15 years as a couple, married for 13 now, and I am still learning new things about her. It is great. She kicks butt at her job. She is the sole breadwinner in our family and we are better off now than we were when we were both working. She continues to crush the working world and seems to get promoted more often than not. She has allowed our family to live a very comfortable life. She rules. She has introduced me to so many things I never even thought of doing. She has made me braver and stronger. She puts up with all my anxiety and OCD tendencies and has made me a better person for it. She has made me face fears that I would have never thought I would overcome. I get on planes now because she is the best support system I could ever have. She makes me strive to be a better husband and dad. I work harder now with my kids. We work on manners, sports and just general everyday things with our kids, and they are pretty well behaved young kids. That is due to us being kickass parents that work in tandem. She has helped me become more open to talking to people that I may not have before. She has helped me become a tiny bit more extroverted than before, and for those that know me, I am very introverted. I am a more open person because of her. She helps keep me in check. If I am running too much, getting too full of myself, acting like everything is about me, she will check me. I need that in my life. That is important to me. And she crushes that aspect of life. Basically my wife is the best thing that has ever happened to me. Life got so much better and more fulfilling 13 years ago when she said yes to marrying me. All the stuff before that is not important. My life didn't truly start until I met my wife and we started to date. Then getting married was the icing on the cake.

I love you more than words can say. I could literally go on and on and on today, but it still would not be enough. I don't have the space to put it all in this blog. She is too perfect and amazing and wonderful and every other good thing one person can say about another person. Happy anniversary. Here's' to year 13 with infinity more. Love you.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

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The Kids Today and Their 3-D Printers

From time to time I told you all I was going to talk about my kids going to school amidst a pandemic. Today I want to touch on that subject, but not the pandemic specific stuff I usually do. I want to do something a little different.

My wife and I are doing all the parent teacher conferences this week. Now that both of our kids are in school, we have extra conferences, and they have been quite eye opening. We are finishing them up tonight but we had one yesterday with our son's gifted teacher. My son has been in this whole gifted program through the school district since he was a kindergartener. We love it. He loves it. The program gives him a challenge he doesn't get in his everyday class. Now it is not that he isn't being challenged in his usual fourth grade class, this gifted program just pushes him to further his creative thinking and learning. The curriculum at the gifted school is made to teach the students to use different parts of their brain, and I am fully on board with all of that. We have had conferences every year, but last night was the most fired up I have been, in a good way, talking to my son's teacher there.

First of all, his teacher is amazing. Big shout out to her and all that she is doing. She is excellent at her job, and my wife and I both totally appreciate everything she is doing. Talking to her via a phone call last night was great. She was super informative. She had an answer to every question we asked. She talked about what my son needs to work on and what he is doing well. I liked that she focused more on what he needs to work on too. We all know he is smart, what he is good at doing in school, I want to know what he needs to work on so I can help him at home as well. I want to put in the effort to help the teachers as much as I can. This was where my mind was literally blown while talking to his teacher last night. When we talked about what he needs to work on, he wrote this down himself by the way, we are not judging him, his teacher told us he wants to get to know coding a bit better so he can do a 3-D print project at the end of the school year. I let out a verbal gasp when the teacher told us they had a 3-D printer in their classroom. I could not believe it. I am not totally computer savvy, but I know my way around one. I write blogs, I record a podcast, I can check email, I know the basics. But the idea of creating a coding program that would lead me to 3-D printing is so beyond any level of computer knowledge I could ever know or have. I was blown away. I thought this was the coolest thing ever. I have seen some 3-D printing products, but never something that I have created or my wife created or my kids created. Now my son is learning how to do this, during a full school day, and I couldn’t be any happier about it. The idea of a 3-D printer, when I was in 4th grade, would have blown my mind. It would have been the only thing I focused on all year. I would have obsessed over it. I would have poured over it. It would have been the only thing in school that mattered.

The fact that they have 3-D printers also proves to me that I am getting older. That a 3-D printer is commonplace in school now shows my age. I remember getting Oregon Trail, and that was the best. I am old. This is the equivalent, I assume, of when my dad and I were driving home from a college football game maybe four or five years ago and I pulled up a different game on the radio on my phone. I had, still have, an iPhone at the time, we had just watched Michigan barely win and my dad was driving the five hours back home. He wanted to listen to other games while we drove, so I pulled up an app that had college football radio stations, downloaded it and we listened to a few games on the way home. He told me that that technology would have been so foreign to him in his teens and 20's. That is how this 3-D printer being in my nine year old's classroom is for me. It is so wild, but also very, very cool.

I love CCL. I love the gifted program. And now that they have these great tools to help the students learn, while it blows my mind, I love it so very much. This is a good thing. This makes me happy. I hope they continue to grow and learn and add the proper, and needed materials for schools. I'm a big fan of all things CCL, especially the new 3-D printer that my son is currently learning how to use. So awesome.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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Happy Birthday Dad

Today is the other important birthday I want to touch on. My daughter’s was yesterday and my dad’s is today. He turns 71.

I know everyone, most everyone that is, says their dad is the best, but my dad is better than anyone else’s dad. It’s true. I’m sorry if this bursts anyone’s bubble, but it’s a fact. He’s been there for everything in my life and my brothers lives. He’s always been around. He’s never missed a game, event, wedding, graduation or any other important moment in our lives. He’s even there for the unimportant moments. My dad was my coach growing up. He taught me how to play sports. He taught me how to lose and win. He taught me how to react in those scenarios. He showed me how to play catcher in baseball. Then when I wanted to play third, he taught me the proper way to do that. It was the same with pitching. In basketball, when I was a small kid, he taught me how to dribble and pass like a guard. As I thickened up a bit he taught me how to rebound, box out and tip shots back in. He always had me play sports with older kids to hone my skills. When I finally got to high school and my folks let me play football, he helped me to learn how to properly tackle and play fast.

My dad also helped with things outside of sports. My dad gave me the sex talk. I’m sure he was sick of doing it, me being the fourth kid, but he did it anyway. He helped me when I struggled with geometry and chemistry in high school. After I flunked out of two colleges, both of which my parents footed the bill, he helped me with my third try, even though I was paying for it. I passed school with a 4.0 then. When I met my wife he would constantly tell me to marry her. When I said I was going to propose his response was, “it’s about damn time”. He gave a tremendous toast at our rehearsal dinner. He was a blast at the wedding. He’s been an excellent and involved papa to his four grand kids.

As I’ve gotten older my favorite thing to do is go get coffee with my dad. We go out once a week to a local shop, just him and I, and we shoot the breeze over some cold brew. It’s my favorite thing. I look forward to it every week. It’s so awesome to have this one on one time with my dad. I can complain about things and he lets me vent. We talk sports and it’s great. We even have debates about coffee now, as if I even know what I’m talking about. He’s helped to get me more involved in politics and science. These coffee dates are the cherry on top of the pie.

My dad is my absolute best friend. I don’t think I’d be where I am right now if it weren’t for both of my parents. They get me. But my dad and I have a very special bond. When my wife and I chose to live in Saint Louis it was so we could be close to our folks. I love you dad. Enjoy your dad. You’ve earned it. Happy birthday to the GOAT.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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Ty is Having a Sunrise Sunset Moment on His Daughter's Birthday

The next two days I’m going to take a break from my NBA preview because there are two very important birthdays that I’d like to take some time to tell you all about. I’ll get back to the countdown on Monday, so don’t fret.

The first birthday, today in fact, my daughter turns six. I know six may not seem like a big deal to most people, but this one has hit me a little different. My wife and I are done having kids. After we found out our second was going to be a girl I scheduled my vasectomy. We got what we wanted. Two kids, a boy and a girl, spaced about four years apart. It’s perfect. We got very lucky. And as you all know very well by now I’m a stay at home dad. It’s the best job in the world. Since my son was a year and a half I’ve been home with both kids. It’s amazing. I get to see it all. I wouldn’t trade it for the world. But now that my daughter is six, in kindergarten, both of my kids are in school five days a week seven hours a day. This is the first time in a little over eight years I’ve had this kind of time to reflect, think, do what I want to do sans kids. It’s good but it’s also sad. And with my daughter I’ve been there since day one. I saw the first steps. I heard the first words. I changed the majority of the diapers. I did the play dates. I took her to preschool and picked her up. We had lunch dates everyday together while her brother was at school. We hit up every playground in our area. But now that she’s a kindergartner, a six year old, she’s making new friends. I’m not as cool as I once was. She wants to see her friends, play with them, do fun things with them. That’s great, it just kind of bums me out. But it’s also a delight to see her growing into the person she will be. She’s changed so much these past six years. I can’t wait to see how much she changes in the next six years. She’s gotten so clever. Her sense of humor is off the charts. She’s so very intelligent. She reads better than I ever have in my life. She’s whip smart with comebacks. She’s strong willed. She’s tough. She’s not afraid of anything, except bugs. She’s beautiful. She makes all of us at home smile and laugh at least once a day. She’s the perfect little human being. I love her so very much. She was the missing piece to our family puzzle. We had the son, the dog, the house with a fence. All we needed was our little spitfire to keep us on our toes.

I love you Audrey girl. Happy birthday. I’m so proud to be your dad.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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The Tragedy of a Broken Phone

Last night when arriving home from softball I put my wallet, water bottle and phone on top of my car. I do this a lot. Some might say too much. But nothing truly "bad" has happened. That streak came to an end last night.

While putting things away in my trunk I heard something slide down. I assumed it was my water bottle. It was, but my phone also slid down into the crack between my trunk and car door. I thought nothing of it and went to retrieve my stuff. Well when I grabbed my phone it was completely turned off. I did not turn it off. I was listening to a podcast when I was doing this in fact. The fact that the pod stopped playing should have been my first clue that something was off. When I grabbed the phone I noticed that my screen protector was really warped and my case had some dings on it. That was when I knew something was messed up. The fact that this stuff was warped, that the pod shut off and that I couldn't turn my phone on had me nervous.

When I got inside I took a deep breath and realized that my phone was totally broken. It wouldn't turn on. I tried all the tricks. My wife has an iPhone so I looked up what to do. I tried all the tricks and came up empty every time. This was not good. Usually after softball I like to play on my phone in bed after I shower. It is my way of winding down. I know these are totally first world problems as well. I do not mean to sound like an asshole. When I figured I couldn't play any games or read any stories on my phone the usual anxiety set in for me. I had so many questions dancing in my brain. "What if they can't fix it"? "Can I go to the Genius Bar without an appointment"? "How can I set an appointment if my phone is not working"? "What if my kids need help in school"? "This is not going to be good". "This is going to be expensive". "I'm probably going to have to buy a whole new phone". All of that, and so much more, was making my mind race. I'm a worrier, and when something goes wrong I think of the worst possible outcome. It is never the simple answer for me.

Of course I was able to walk to the Apple Store and tell them what was wrong this morning. The worker there told me they see this problem all the time. I have insurance on my phone. I don't have to buy a new one because they can fix it in store for me. My kids are good, and school can always contact my wife if there is a real emergency. I didn't think about any of those things, any of the stuff that happened mere hours ago.

So while I sit here and wait for my "new" phone, they just replaced the messed up parts inside of the phone, to set back up I have begun to think about my attachment to this little piece of metal and plastic. We all are addicted to our phones and devices. It is a real problem. "Black Mirror" has a great episode about this very thing in their most recent season. I was worried and couldn't sleep well because I didn't know what I would do without my cell phone. I understand that they are incredibly useful and needed, but to put myself through the worry, that upsets me. My phone isn't the end all be all. I have plenty of other things to do in the home that I own with my wife and kids. I have books galore I can read. I have guitars. I have a basketball hoop. But I let myself worry about my phone. I need to make some changes. A missing phone shouldn't add that much stress to my life. Who cares that I wasn't available when most people are asleep or at work. My phone is still in the process of updating, which will most likely take another hour or so, but I'm not just going to sit here and wait for it to be done before moving on with my day. I'm writing this. I'm going to go for a run soon. I have to take out the trash and water my grass. I have plenty of things that are not phone related that need to be done.

The lesson? I'm going to set a goal for myself to not be as connected to my phone as I was before. What I did last night was a bonehead move, but it has definitely made me reconsider how much time I spend on that thing. Changes will be made. That is my main lesson from all of this. Let's connect in other ways than just our phones.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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We Do Not Yet Understand the World Our Kids are Growing Up In

Wikipedia

Both of my kids have been back in school for about a month now. My daughter is in kindergarten and my son is a fourth grader. We did virtual for nine weeks last year, but sent both kids back when we found out that our school district was following what the doctors and scientists were saying. They wore masks, did great contract tracing, we were notified every time there was a case, the district really did a solid job.

When this year started we were definitely going to send the kids back. Again, there is a mask mandate, most of the teachers are vaxxed, hopefully 5-11 years olds will be able to get vaxxed soon, it is pretty much the same as last year. We have, again, been very happy with how they are handling school during this pandemic. The other night something happened though that shook all of us adults to our core.

The kids had school pictures recently. They both came back great. I'm biased, but my kids are adorable so they always take great pictures. My son looked sharp. Nice combed hair, good smile, looked good and his picture was great. My daughter is very pretty but she doesn't like to follow directions all that much. Her picture is great, but she has taken better pictures. She is much more of a candid photo kid. So when her pictures came back she had a very forced smile and her hair was wild. She refuses to let any of us put it up so it just flies around. She has a ton of hair too. She also does this weird thing with her shin when someone tells her to smile. She juts it out. It is very forced. You can tell she doesn't want to do it, but she knows she has to for the picture. So we got together with some family members the other night. Don't worry, everyone who is eligible is vaccinated. We all got vaccinated as soon as we could. So we all felt safe enough to have a remake Thanksgiving since we missed last year. At one point during the dinner, when the kids were playing, my wife brought up the school pictures. No one else had seen them besides us and our folks. My wife took photos to have on her phone and we were showing them off. It was pretty fun. Seeing their aunts and uncles reactions was priceless. Everyone we were with was very funny and quick witted. So of course when we showed off our daughter's picture, jokes were made. It was all in good fun. No one was being mean. Again, my daughter is beautiful so we are all so shocked when we see the way she fake smiles now.

After we talked and laughed for awhile one of my daughter's aunts called her over to ask a question. The aunt's question was simple enough, "what did they tell you when they took this picture?". See, pretty simple. My daughter's answer is what crushed us all. Most five years olds would say that they were told to smile or comb their hair or that the photographer told them a joke. My daughter said, "they told me to take my mask off". We all gasped. At that moment, those eight words crushed us. We all realized how different a world our kids are growing up in right now. We never had to deal with this when we were that young. There was no pandemic when I was five. We didn't live in a world where quarantine and social distancing were a thing. We didn't have all these restrictions. I think what hit us the most was how nonchalant my daughter was about it. This is the world she lives in. She understands how important it is to be masked. She gets it. It has never been a problem for her. She is so good about wearing her mask. In a way I was proud of how she answered. But man what a shock it was to hear her say that. She is growing up in a wildly different world than any adult in over 100 years. But, I say again, I'm proud that she knows the right thing to do, and why it is important to wear a mask. But that quote will stay with me, and I'm sure the other five adults that were at that dinner.

That really shook us up.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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Nightmares in Little League Baseball

There are so many things I love about being an at home parent. I get to see all the firsts, I get valuable time with my kids, the one on one with each is amazing, my kids do and say things like me, it’s the best job in the world. I’m not kidding. I wouldn’t trade what I do for anything in the world. It’s the most fulfilling and best job I have had, or ever will have. I will do this job as long as I possibly can. Yet there are struggles. There are lots of stresses. Some days I’m so exhausted that I collapse in bed before 10pm and pass out. It’s a great but tough job.

A few weeks back I wrote about one of the stress filled jobs of an at home parent, cleaning the bathrooms. That’s a gross and very involved job. Another thing I have come to realize that’s tough is coaching youth sports, namely my son’s 10u little league baseball team. I coached my daughter in basketball and softball, but she’s 5. It’s more about learning than competing. I also coach my son’s basketball team, and while that’s tough, that’s on me. I love basketball. I’ve played it forever. It’s the best. But I also expect the best, and at 9, my son has a few years before he has to really decide if he wants to play basketball for a long time. He has to grow into his body a bit more. He’s a big kid, but he’s also super awkward. He moves like a new born baby colt. But baseball, little league baseball, coaching that, at the 10u stage is hard.

Baseball is, admittedly, an easy sport. See the ball, hit the ball. Field the grounder, throw the runner out. Throw the ball, catch the ball. It’s real simple. Also, by the 10u stage, real baseball rules are used. You can steal, passed balls are live, you can run on drop third strikes, you can pick players off, it’s all in play. This is the first season for our team with these rules, but we’ve been practicing pretty much all year. Once we were allowed to safely gather as a team, we started working on the new rules that were soon to come. But now that they’re here, our boys have seemed to forget everything. Our catchers jog or walk back to passed balls. The boys do not understand what a lead off is. Hardly anyone swings the bat now that they’re seeing real pitching, no more pitching machine. We get picked off on a regular basis. The kids do not know how to properly slide. Our pitchers don’t even look at base runners. It’s a mess.

This all came to an ugly head at our game last night. I do want to point out that we moved up a division, we were told too after finishing high in our division over the summer, so the competition is much better. This should head to improvement, but that has not happened. We’ve taken a tremendous step back. Last night we had no business being on the field with this other team. We got one hit. We were 10 run ruled. We couldn’t get the ball back to our pitcher on a regular basis. Our fielders simply forgot how to field ground balls or catch a pop fly. The boys spent their time on the bench talking about video games or eating food. They were clueless to the action on the field. And to put the icing on the crap cake, one of our boys broke his fibula “sliding” into third on a steal attempt. He decided much too late that he wanted to slide and he caught his foot awkward on the bag and I had to physically carry him off the field. I feel awful for him. But the awkward slide was the full cause of the break. It was brutal. I hardly ever raise my voice, but I’m hoarse today. I had my head in my hands the whole two hours. I was questioning if the boys wanted to even be out there. I understand they’re 9 and 10, but I am not kidding when I say they had zero interest in the game last night. I’m an assistant, so I cannot even fathom how our head coach feels. He’s been at this longer than I have, but still, this was maddening last night.

What’s next? We are going to practice more. We are going to do all we can as coaches to get these boys more prepared. But I am not overstating how hard and frustrating it is to coach little league baseball. It’s not for the faint of heart.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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Nightmares in Home Cleaning

Being the at home parent means I do most of the household chores. I understood this was a part of my newfound duties once my wife and I decided I would be the parent to stay home after my son was born. To be honest I was doing this all along. I come from a very neat and tidy, some might say OCD, I'm that some, family. My mom was always cleaning the house, my dad would clean the kitchen and grill and me and my brothers had plenty of chores to do when growing up. I'm not saying my wife is messy, but she is an only child and her folks did the cleaning. She keeps things pretty clean around the house too, but it was just a given and I have been cleaning up ever since we moved in together. I do not like to control many things, but cleaning the house is my domain. It is my time to shine.

About two to three times a month I do what I consider a deep cleaning of the house. I dust, sweep, mop, clean all the bathrooms, vacuum, clean the sheets, make my kids clean their rooms and give the whole house a thorough run through. Yesterday I did one of the deep cleanings, the first of August in fact. My son was with his grandmother, my daughter was in her room for her quiet time and my wife was at the office. This gives me two full hours to get all this done. I usually use up the full time limit. I like the feeling of having a nice clean house even if we do not have many guests nowadays due to COVID. We do still have our folks over, so it is a way for me to show off for them I suppose. Everything was going as planned, I was on schedule and then I went to clean up the kids bathroom. Now that we did the addition my wife and I enjoy our new room which has its own bathroom and shower. We have our own personal space to go to the restroom and to clean up. The kids bathroom used to be all of our bathroom before we added on. All four of us would use that room to do what we needed to do. Now it is for the kids.

Here is where my story gets scary. When I went in there to clean up yesterday I thought I was going to vomit everywhere. Again, I try my damndest to keep a tidy house, but things sometimes get pushed to the backburner for a week or so. I usually do spot clean ups, but I missed a few here and there and I paid the price yesterday. Their bathroom was an absolute nightmare. There was soap scum everywhere in the shower. The shampoo bottles were open and dripping. The foaming soap was open and on its side, also dripping. The bathroom mirror was smudged to hell. There was toothpaste all over the inside and outside of the bathroom sink. And the toilet seat was the absolute worst. I grew up with three older brothers so I know how gross toilet seats can be, but this was on a whole other level. The stench of urine filled the room. It was blasted all over the top and bottom of the seat. It was on the underneath side. The bowl was grimy and gross. I know you may be reading this and thinking how disgusting this is, imagine having to clean it. I went in there and scrubbed the hell out of their bathroom. I also had a very long talk with them about hygiene and keeping rooms like a bathroom clean. I told my wife about all of this and she said her stomach was doing flips because of how gross it sounded. I do not know how my mom and dad did it. I'm pretty sure my mom did the cleaning of the bathrooms, and if my brothers and I ever dirtied up a bathroom this badly, I sincerely apologize. I cannot imagine how she dealt with the filth. I know my daughter was the one who messed up the mirrors and showers, but the toilet was on my son. He knows better. I have heard him going to the bathroom and just thinking he was splashing everywhere. Now I am certain he was. This was such a mess.

The lesson? Now I know I have to keep doing my spot clean ups. I have to stay on it or else this could happen many more times. I love my kids more than anything in the world, but what they did to that bathroom was unacceptable. I bet it will not happen again. Or maybe I hope so.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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Who Needs Sleep?

Last night my daughter developed croup. This happens fairly common in my house. I got it as a kid, my son used to get it and my wife always has some kind of cough. This is my daughter’s first bout with it though.

The croup came on very suddenly too. She was fine all day. We swam, with other vaccinated people, ate barbecue, made brownies, got cleaned up and enjoyed the day off. Even when we put her to bed we just figured she was tired, that was why she was quiet we all thought. And even when I heard a faint cough from her room around 11pm, my wife and I both assumed it was one of those nighttime coughs that people get.

Then 3am happened. We first heard her get up to go to the bathroom, which does happen from time to time. But when we asked what she was doing her response was very raspy. Then she scurried back to bed, obviously trying to hide her cough from us. About five minutes later I heard the whooping sound, almost like a seal barking, and I immediately knew what was going on. For the next two hours my daughter and I hung out in the lower level of our house while trying to go back to sleep. We had a painter coming over very early, so I was trying to get a hint of rest before having to do all my morning routine along with talking to the painter. My daughter eventually crashed a bit after 5am, but I was in and out of sleep the rest of the night and into the morning. I wanted to monitor her breathing and make sure she was okay. And she’s fine. She has croup, a sore throat and a runny nose. No COVID, no internal stuff, still has an appetite and is as feisty as normal.

What I’m more impressed about, what has kind of shocked me, is how my daughter and my wife and I have been able to function on such little sleep. Back before we had kids my wife had I averaged 8-10 hours of sleep a night, like most couples without kids. After we had our son we slipped to about seven hours a night. Then when my daughter came it was down to six and a half a night. But that works for us. That is a good night’s sleep. If I get more than eight hours now it doesn’t feel as good as it used to. I function better on less sleep. Last night though, I got four hours sleep, my wife was around three and a half and my daughter got about six. We are all exhausted. But none of us have napped. My wife went into the office to work today, and she’s crushing it as usual. I talked to her earlier and she sounded like she always does. She’s a boss. My daughter had a doctors appointment, we picked up lunch, we saw my folks, she played with my mom and we are currently waiting to get my son and her meds. I have obviously been with her the whole time, and I was able to sneak away for a 40 minute four mile run. That was my self care today. I wouldn’t have been able to do that in the past. If I had only gotten four hours of sleep my next day would’ve been ruined. I would have napped, at the very minimum, twice. I know for a fact that my wife would’ve taken the full morning off and stayed in bed. My daughter would’ve been a crabby mess, and she would’ve napped also. I’m just amazed at how the human body adapts and finds a way. It’s really cool actually. I don’t think the doctor could tell how tired we were. My folks said we looked a little sleepy, but nothing out of the ordinary. The people at McDonalds didn’t know how sleep deprived I was when I got lunch. It’s really neat how we adapt the older we get and when you have kids. It’s kind of incredible in fact. I am starting to feel a crash coming, but dinner, getting my son from school, getting the kids to do their chores and clean themselves and go to bed and then spending quality time with my wife will help me push through the muck right now.

I guess I just want to say that our bodies are cool as hell, this stuff makes me appreciate it and want to take better care of it and I’m just blown away at the adaptability. It’s remarkable.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

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A Return to Normalcy: I am Not Quite There Yet

Yesterday I talked about some podcasts going back to recording in person, in the studio, and how it has me feeling kind of optimistic that we may have turned a corner. It seems like things could be getting somewhat better. Some people are starting to go back out to restaurants, concerts are being scheduled, movie theaters are reopening, theme parks are able to operate at full capacity and the CDC is saying that it is safe, as long as you are vaccinated, to hang out in small groups, unmasked, with other vaccinated people. But I also mentioned in my piece yesterday how I am still kind of anxious about reentering society. Let’s talk about it.

I am fully vaccinated. I have been since April. I spend a ton of time outside. I am running with my buddy, who is also fully vaccinated, maskless again. All of that feels safe to me, and I am comfortable with it as well. I am not worried in those scenarios. But there are other things that still kind of freak me out, where I haven't yet been able to make the disconnect, to switch back to "normal". I have gone to two restaurants since getting vaccinated, and I was not comfortable. There just seemed like too many people inside at the time. And any time I was not eating or drinking, I kept my mask on. That made me feel safer. I noticed I was one of the few people still doing that. I still wear a mask when coaching my son and daughter's baseball/softball teams. I do not know where these other kids or their parents have been. I am sure some of the parents and older kids have not been, nor want to, get vaccinated. I'm sure some of them had COVID. Again, the other coaches do not wear a mask, but I still do. It makes me feel safe. I have played basketball in a gym a few times since getting my shots, but I still mask up. Again, it just makes me feel safe. I do wonder though, when, if ever, I will feel safe enough around strangers, or even people I know, to go maskless. There has to be some breaking point, some unknown time where I have to trust other people. I feel like I will always, at least for a very long time, still mask up at grocery stores, places like Target and WalMart and Lowe's and even gyms. But when will I feel comfortable to go to a race or a movie or a school event or the doctor or my kid's baseball/softball games and not wear a mask? I don't know. I just do not feel ready to fully go back to whatever "normal" used to be.

I know I am not alone. I know there are others out there that have these same fears. I have read many articles, too many in fact, that all have the same title. They are always called, "When Will I Feel Safe Again", and I totally empathize and agree. I still do not feel safe. I still do not trust people I do not know. I went to Lowe's the other day to get house stuff, and I was one of four people wearing a mask, including the employees. The same thing happened at my local grocery store. I already stated that I am the only coach that still wears a mask. Even my wife is comfortable not wearing one when she comes to their games. Why am I not there yet? Does this mean there is something wrong with me? I have heard and read too many stories about people lying, or just skirting the CDC guidelines, and all those people are out and about. They have been this whole time. That is another thing, this pandemic is not over. It may feel like it, and I hope we are close to some kind of end, but people are still getting COVID. It is still out there. We still need to be vigilant. But I just wish that I could get to a personal place, a spot where I do feel okay. The reason why I am okay seeing friends and family maskless is because they have been safe, they are still being safe and they have all been vaccinated. Not to toot our own horns, but we have, and still continue to follow the guidelines to a T. I just am not at a place where I feel good enough to do that around strangers. My wife went to a Saint Louis Cardinals game earlier this year, and I have no desire to do that yet. Michigan Stadium has said they are going to be at full capacity in the fall, and I already told my dad maybe I will feel safer going in 2022. The Grizzlies look like they are going to be solid to really good for sometime, but I am not ready to go to an NBA arena to watch a game. My mom and I are in the process of getting a refund for our Rolling Stones tickets for a show we were supposed to see last summer. I'm just not there, I'm not ready, I do not feel safe, not yet.

Hopefully, as more and more folks get vaccinated, and please, please, please get that shot, and the vaccine becomes more available to everyone, my children included, I can get there. But for now, it is business as usual for me, with very few exceptions. It can be a drag at times, but hey, I'd rather just go about my life being safe and get the sideways looks I get. That makes me feel better as of now.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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I, Bald Man

I am a bald man.

I think I have made that pretty clear on the website and on the podcast. I am not complaining about this either. At first it was frustrating. I used to have dreadlocks, and when I cut those off, I grew my hair out like all millennials used to do. But I noticed in my mid twenties that I was losing my hair. The anger subsided quick, and I just kind of dealt with it. What else could I do.

When my hair was first thinning out I tried to keep the cut short, to kind of blend it in. That worked for a while. I still have some hair in my wedding photos. Pretty soon after my wedding and honeymoon, I began to lose more and more hair. At this time I started to shave it with an electric shaver. My wife would cut it, or I would do it from time to time. I would forget a lot, and my hair would look rough. But when it got to that point, boom I turned on the shaver and took care of business. After some time, after my kids were born, my wife took over shaving my head. She would shave my head and trim my beard. It was a two for one type deal.

One night I decided that I wanted to see what it looked like when I used a razor. I'm not talking anything fancy, no straight razors or anything like that. I would use a BIC, or something similar. And it worked. My wife and I did not know what I would look like, if I would look any different, and I didn't. Shaving your head totally bald doesn't look much different from a close shave. The only real difference is you can see all the knicks and cuts in your head. You also need to use some kind of aftershave, or those cuts get even worse. This has become my new norm now. I shave my head, usually, once a week. I will go on a long run, and my cool down is a shower and shaving my head.

I come here today to tell you a tale of "horror" about waiting too long to shave your head. Keeping a schedule is key. You need to stay on it. You need to make sure that you do it the same day every week. It is just like shaving your face for work. If you miss a week, it will be a pain. That happened to me today. We are getting work done in our home, and we needed to be out by last Sunday, the 14th. I figured I would shave my head when we got to my folks house. No big deal. Well, the moving of objects out of the bedrooms in my home, and setting things out of the way so the workers wouldn't have to, took way more out of me than I thought it would. I was pretty exhausted when we got to my parents house. Add on the fact that my kids had to be cleaned, and my wife and I did too, things got out of hand quick. I got our clothes in the house, moved the stuff into our room in the basement, gave my daughter a bath and decided I was going to sit down before showering. When I finally got around to cleaning myself, I was too tired to shave my head. I just decided to do it the next day.

Well, the next day turned into an entire week. I just kept forgetting. What with my new living situation, getting my kids to and from school, stopping by the house to check on it daily, training for a marathon and trying to get some sleep, shaving my head became an afterthought, until today. I finally had time. My kids are on spring break, my parents were willing to watch them and I had a scheduled rest day. I just finished shaving my head, and it took over 30 minutes.

It hurt. I have cuts all over my head. I had to slop on the aftershave, and it hurts. The water was freezing cold by the end in the shower. When I first started to shave, the razor felt like it was cutting grass for the first time in two years. I would move the razor two to three inches on my head, and the razor would fill up with hair. I had to keep cleaning the hair out. It took forever to get one side of the top of my head barely shaved. I kept going over the same spot three and four times with little to no movement. I finally got through the top part of my head, and the back was untouched. Mind you, I kept going over the back with the razor, it was too full of hair to work. I kept at it, changing midway through for a less dull blade, and that helped, but man did it scratch my head up bad. I could see blood on the white razor. I knew it was bad, and when I finally, thankfully, got my head shaved properly, my teeth were chattering, and my head was on fire with all the razor cuts and burns. It was brutal, but I got it done, and I feel okay now.

I am writing this today to say, if you are a bald man like me and you have decided to shave your head, stay on schedule. I do not want anyone to have to deal with what I did today. It was all on me, I did not stay on course. But I will from now on. This was not fun, and it took way too much time. Stay on schedule. That is the lesson I am trying to pass on today.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

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SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing.  

I Run. I Fall.

When winter comes around, that is my favorite time to trail run. I have always liked trail running, but something about winter, with colder temperatures, less people and some snow cover, it is very nice, and very fun. I also feel a little freer when running on trails in winter. I am a cautious runner, but something about rocks and tree roots being covered with leaves and the occasional snowfall, I let myself go a little more. I am still wary and I still pay almost too close attention, but when things are covered, I will let myself go a little further than normal.

With all that being said, I do fall even more, especially when the ice and snow turns to water, making the trail muddy and slippery. I had one such instance this morning on my trail run. Kirk and I started running together years ago, and we still get together now once a week, masked, and we go on a trail run. We do this pretty much every Thursday, and I love it. Running with my buddy is great for my mental health, it is nice to see someone outside my bubble once in a while and Kirk tends to make me push myself, which I need from time to time. But, I do fall quite a bit. Last Sunday I tripped on a ton of tree roots. A few weeks back, I rolled my ankle on some rocks. These things happen.

Today I fell twice. The first time wasn't all that bad. I took a corner a bit too tight, I tried to slow down, but I slipped on some mud and fell on my side. It was a bummer, but it wasn't as bad as it could have been. I got wet and muddy, but it's not like this hasn't happened a bunch. I assumed this would be the only time I would fall today. I was wrong. Sometimes on our trail runs I have had to ditch my glasses. I breathe heavy, and with the cold adding to it, my glasses fog up, and it is like I am running blind. It is actually better when I take my glasses off. I pay closer attention and am more aware of my surroundings. I need to start wearing my contacts again, which I plan on doing for my race on Saturday. But today I just didn't have the time to get my contacts in. I have to get my kids ready for the day, I usually do laundry, I make lunches and snacks, and if I am lucky enough, I can use the restroom before leaving. Today was one of those days, but I had no time for the contacts. So, after I had the first fall, and removing my glasses, I tried to be extra careful. But I am on a tapering schedule, and that means slowing down to almost a hike when I feel tired. At one of these moments, as soon as I started to slow from a run to a hike, I tripped on a rock that I couldn't see, and I fell chest first into the ground. The ground I fell into today was slippery, muddy and covered with a bunch of rocks. I hopped up right away. Kirk stopped and asked if I was okay. I felt fine right after the fall. I got up, made a fist to make sure I hadn't broken anything, and proceeded to continue the run. To Kirk's credit, he kept making sure I was good. I felt fine enough to run, so I did. But I noticed that my knee felt scraped. Then I checked my hands. The left one was fine, with one little scratch. But the right hand, I messed that one up. I couldn't tell at the time. I literally rubbed mud on the cut, covered it with my raincoat and continued to run. After half a mile I checked my hand, and it was definitely bleeding. Blood had made its way from the bottom of my hand to the top. I rubbed more mud on it, covered it up again, and finished the run. As soon as I got in my car, I put some sanitizer on it. That hurt like hell. But it immediately started to feel better. I then came home, cleaned up and bandaged the cut. This is one of the pre requisites, I believe, as a trail runner. You have to, at least once a year, get a nice cut on a trail run. It is like a right of passage. It is like a birthday, because it happens every year. I knew it was coming soon. I figured Saturday, what with it being a night race. But, I guess I got it out of the way today. And, even after saying all this, I will still trail run every week. I prefer it. It is so much more fun and way more technical.

Trail running rules. And even if that means scrapes that turn into deep cuts sometimes, so be it. I will never stop trail running. They will have to drag me off those trails.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

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SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing.

An Amazing Nine Years With My Son

Today is an ode to my son. He turned 9 at midnight, and I am still a little in shock by that. I feel like he was just a baby a year or so ago. I remember bringing him home from the hospital, and how scared and unsure and happy I was. I drove my old car at about 40 miles an hour on the highway because I had this tiny human who I helped to create in the back seat. I had this life that me and my wife are now responsible for forever. He is now almost a tween, and it blows my mind.

My son has also changed so much in his short life so far. As a baby he was easy. He was a sound sleeper, a great eater and didn't really cause too much trouble. He would only get upset if he needed a diaper change or if he was hungry. It was pretty simple looking back on it now. When he was a toddler it was more of the same. I got him potty trained without much of a struggle. I started to stay home with him very early on in his toddler days. We made new friends together and we figured all this new stuff out as a dynamic duo. I am still friends with a few other stay at home dads I met during this time as well. And Miles is still friends with their kids. Then as he got to be 5 and 6, he started to get interested in sports, mainly baseball. He is naturally gifted, he seems to have fun playing the game and he still plays to this day. This was when I started to assistant coach so I could watch, and help him grow as a baseball player. He also decided to play basketball. He is good at this too, although we are still working on getting all the rules down. Then he started elementary school, and the person he has become these past three years seems to be who he will be for a good long time now.

He still loves baseball and basketball, but this kid is a gamer. He loves Breath of the Wild and Mario Kart. He will play other Zelda offshoot games. He likes to dip in and out of Smash Bros. He plays the Sonic Olympic game that came out last year. But his choice over all of these, the one game he wants to play, and is really good at, is Fortnite. This kid is a Fortnite monster. He plays it daily, he plays it as soon as he is done with his snack when he gets home from school, and he will spend a good amount of his weekend mornings playing online with his buddies. He adores this game. He talks about it all the time. He brings it up so much that I have to tell him from time to time, no more Fortnite talk for the day. I used to have to tell him to stop talking about other things, but now it is singularly Fortnite. But I love that he is so passionate about this game that he loves. When I was his age, it was all baseball all the time, so I get the passion. I understand it. I don't get the game, I have never played it, but I understand his love for it. I was the same way, just with a different thing.

Outside Fortnite though, Miles is about as easy, and good, as a kid can be. He is a very good student. He is a very lovable and helpful son and grandson and cousin and friend. He is goofy and funny. He likes to horse around. He likes to talk. He has passion. He is becoming a real person, not that he wasn't as a kid, but he is finding his niche in life. I have loved watching him grow up, and will continue to love it as he gets older and older. The way he is handling this pandemic is amazing. He is really taking it in stride. I know I sound like a doting parent, but I am, and when my kid is this easy to love, it is awesome.

Happy birthday Miles Man. I love you and I am excited to celebrate year 9 with you tonight.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing.