The Eco Dad

I know I haven't been around in a while. I've been pretty busy dadding and whatnot. Things I've managed to do: blow out my left knee, acquire achilles tendonitis and, if all that wasn't bad enough, I just ran a 10k race today and picked myself up two new blisters. Given the lower body ailments, I haven't exactly been on top of my cardio, so of course I thought I was going to die. "Beautiful, scenic hills," is code for death trap. Need to induce a heart attack? Hills. Bit of a masochist, are ya? Hills. Why do this? Because the cause was one close to my heart - SickKids Hospital. My cousin has cerebral palsy and spent some time at that hospital and throughout his various stays there I saw, first hand, the amazing things the staff do there. My two boys had a 50/50 chance of being affected by hemophilia, but as fate would have it, they were born completely healthy and I'm thankful for that every day. Had either of them been affected, we'd have been o...

We've all heard the saying that "it's better to give than to receive." For my birthday this weekend, that's exactly what I did. In lieu of some party, I gathered a handful of friends and their kids and organized a site for the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup. While we didn't give financially, we gave our time and efforts to clean up a park/beach here in Mississauga. Others will benefit from our efforts. I figure if I'm going to gather people in an area, I may as well put them to use. Ha! An acceptable form of child labour.   I find this to be an extremely rewarding experience inasmuch as you do good on the day of the event, but you also teach your kids (and others, 'cause I don't have four kids as pictured above) to do good in the future. You can make it a bit of a game to see who can pick the most garbage, or who can find the biggest piece. It's all in how you sell it. Make it a friends and family event and it should sell itself to th...

I'm still on the fence as to whether I even like this running thing. I'm going to be honest, I hit the 2k mark of this last 10k and I thought, WTF am I doing?! Where's my runner's high? Then I remember why I'm running - to do good. This 10k was done to raise funds for research on heart and stroke PLUS I got to run with these beauties below. Check those sweet finisher medals! Together, as a team, we raised over $1000 for the Heart & Stroke Foundation. Afterwards we got to hang out and have some brunch. Throw in the fact we all got some exercise and I suppose there really isn't any reason not to run. Tonight I just signed up for another 10k, and this one will benefit the SickKids Foundation in order to support SickKids Hospital in Toronto. So far I'm solo. One of the other guys in the photo has said he'll run it with me. I'll try and convince a few others because, hey, nothing like raising funds for a good cause with good people. My goal...

I've been slowly getting back into running, and I haven't decided whether I like it or not.  It's a weird sorta love/hate relationship. It impedes my ability to gain weight and ruins a weight lifting day, but I know it's good for my heart health, not to mention the runs I've been doing have been geared towards good causes. For instance, my upcoming 10k run is for Heart & Stroke. My grandmother suffered from a stroke that crippled her mobility, ended her independence and left her in a home. I'm glad to run and raise funds for research geared towards heart disease and stroke. That being said, you can donate to my run  here . SHAMELESS, I know! Besides spreading good in the world, all this running is taking a toll on my one pair of running shoes. Solution: buy shoes! Of course, I couldn't just walk into the nearest Nike/Reebok/Running Room/(insert good place to buy running shoes here) and pick something off the rack. Nope, this dad has been looking for ...

Ah, Mother's Day. A day to celebrate the mothers in our lives. I happen to have three - my mother, my aunt (Godmother) and my wife (mother of our two rug rats). What do you get the women in your life that have raised you and now raise your children? I'll tell you what I got them: nothing. Sounds a little harsh when I put it that way, but none of them need anything - certainly nothing within my budget. There are, however, mothers, and their families, who could use gifts within my budget. Instead of giving the women in my life stuff, I opted to give meaningful gifts to women I'll never meet and never know. My boys had a 50/50 chance of being affected by hemophilia, which would have likely resulted in many trips to SickKids Hospital. My own cousin has spent time at SickKids for his cerebral palsy, so I've seen first hand how amazing the staff at this hospital are. It might be something to consider for upcoming birthdays or other holidays that usually have gifts give...