Archive for January 2012

Kid's Allowance: Deferred Comp keeps stock in family

Kid's Allowance: Deferred Comp keeps stock in family
Our kids get an allowance of $5 a week and we used to pay them weekly. But it became a challenge to come up with three five-dollar bills every Sunday, until we decided on the solution of just paying them monthly. This was a lot easier, since ATMs dispense twenties and since Chicago Public Schools... Read more »
By Kim Strickland,
January 29, 2012 at 3:14 pm • 

CVS: Why not Sympathy Balloons?

CVS: Why not Sympathy Balloons?
When one goes to the store for the unfortunate task of purchasing a sympathy card, one does not expect to be greeted by a solemn man in a dark suit that will hold one’s hand and offer comfort through the process, perhaps steering one toward an upgrade to a more expensive model, er, card. But... Read more »
By Kim Strickland,
January 26, 2012 at 8:44 am • 

A Suburban Dad's Guest Blog: In Defense of the Suburbs

By Rick Kaempfer I ran into an old friend the other day that I hadn’t seen in a long time. He has been reading my contributions to Kim’s City Mom blog for awhile, and while he enjoys the content, he said: “I still can’t picture you as this suburban dad. How in the world did... Read more »
By asuburbandad,
January 25, 2012 at 10:14 am • 
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A City Mom apologizes to Chicago Snow Plow Drivers

On Saturday morning A City Mom posted the following blog about Plow Tracker Plow Tracker may show more than where Chicago streets are plowed, because the map they had there sure made it look like certain neighborhoods were getting plowed before others and of course, I immediately thought Plow-Gate!  However, shortly thereafter I received a... Read more »
By Kim Strickland,
January 23, 2012 at 9:34 am • 

Plow Tracker may show more than just where Chicago streets have been plowed

Plow Tracker may show more than just where Chicago streets have been plowed
Take a look at this Chicago snow plowing picture. Derekeder.com/clearstreets Notice anything? Anything that looks unfair? Where are the mostly affluent areas? Sauganash anyone? Beverly? Where are the poverty stricken areas? Where have the streets been plowed? This is a new app, “Built overnight by Derek Eder and Forest Gregg,” according to the website and... Read more »
By Kim Strickland,
January 21, 2012 at 9:02 am • 

International Crazy: My weekly jetlag makes my family nuts

International Crazy is the way I describe myself when I come home from a trip. Not to be confused with mad cow or a Beachbody workout, International Crazy is brought on not by infectious prions or an insane personal trainer, but by forty-eight hours of sleep deprivation and jet lag. The condition is insidious. Often,... Read more »
By Kim Strickland,
January 20, 2012 at 1:32 pm • 
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A Suburban Dad's Guest Blog: Kids That Are Impossible to Impress

By Rick Kaempfer My kids never tire of hearing stories about my childhood, but there is one thing they will never ask me about under any circumstances. My career. They just don’t care. I can understand that on a certain level. My own father was an engineer, and I remember that after I discovered he... Read more »
By asuburbandad,
January 18, 2012 at 10:13 am • 

Road Rage resonates because it's anonymous

Road Rage resonates because it's anonymous
Friday I was on my way to pick my daughter up at school and had stopped at a stoplight in my car when a man and a woman walked right in front of me right before the light turned green. No big deal, right? No, big deal. You see, I was running late and the... Read more »
By Kim Strickland,
January 16, 2012 at 10:32 am • 

I will not go quietly into the long dark night of short hair for woman over forty five.

Apparently there’s this unwritten rule that women over a certain age aren’t supposed to have long hair. We’re supposed to enter our forties and adopt a shoulder length bob and then as we approach our fifties and beyond, lop all of it off into some sort of boyish cut, like “mom jeans” for the head... Read more »
By Kim Strickland,
January 14, 2012 at 11:00 am • 
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A Suburban Dad's Guest Blog: Aging Rockers

By Rick Kaempfer I just watched the latest video by Van Halen and I had mixed emotions. On the one hand I love Van Halen–and I’m excited that they are back in the saddle again touring the world with David Lee Roth as the frontman. I’d love to see that concert. On the other hand…I’m... Read more »
By asuburbandad,
January 11, 2012 at 8:28 am •