Engineering Fatherhood

We tell you the truth about Valentine’s day.  John and Mark school Matt with important tips for making the day special for your wife.  Tips that are simple, inexpensive and effective.

A good gift requires prior planning and thoughfulness.  Here are our suggestions

We also have a lot more discussion about poop than you ever want to hear, but some of it is funny of course.  Rants and video game updates as always.  Can you believe it?  We for got moments of the week.  Shame on us.

This is the Official EF Cherub Mark, telling you to do your Vday planning now!

Engineering Fatherhood Episode 15

Below are some links to the music and games that we mention/play:

Opening Song: Stories We Could Tell Live (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers)

Closing Song: Another Side of You (Joe Nichols)

Dungeon Raid Lite (aka free) / Dungeon Raid (paid) iOS Game

Mark

That’s right, we had Jack Owens, the patriarch himself on the show tonight.  Tune in to hear the what parenting was like thirty or forty years ago.   It was a fair bit different than it is today.  We tell stories of all the things they did wrong and yet how everything turned out right.  It was divine intervention for sure.  Good thing we never ate meat on Fridays or we would have been doomed!

If I can risk summing up his advice it would be: ‘Let your kids do more own their own, dont worry so much, and definitely make them go outside!’

There you have it from the man himself.   We had a lot of laughs this episode as we stepped through the early years the nerd brothers.

We had rants and moments as always.  I was ‘on location’ (work travel) in Pennsylvania so I apologize for poor skype quality.  John had to use his plow, but otherwise all is well in the central NY bunker.  Matt gave us another video game update – Hero Academy on iOS.  Check it out!

If you like the show, please consider going in to iTunes and giving us a review.  Leave us a comment and we will mention your name on the air.

Have a great week,

Mark

Engineering Fatherhood Episode 14

Matt talks about kids birthday parties.  How far is too far?  Parental competition can be fierce, but making your kid happy is what is important.

Mark brings up some stories about special needs activists whose issues have gone viral.  Here are the links for the issues Mark was talking about:

http://noahsdad.com/target-down-syndrome/

http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/18/health/organ-transplant-child/index.html?iref=allsearch

Rants, moments and stories are included as usual.  Zack joined us all the way from Portland, ME to give us an update on his life.  We kept him on through the entire show and then forgot to give you the sports update.  That is how much fun we were having!  Don’t forget to tune in next week for our special guest!

Happy Engineering,

Mark

Engineering Fatherhood Episode 13

P.S I found this funny picture while I was scouting around for something else and thought it was pretty funny and relevant to rants and engineering and all that…

Hey all,

Guest expert Pete Shields enlightens us on the joys of having a large family.  He has eight children!  How do they do it?  He tells us some funny stories, explains the logistics and gives us a few sanity tips for coping with kids when they outnumber you.  My favorite was the part about 21 grandchildren sleeping at grandma’s for Christmas.  Her house must have looked like ‘who-ville’ from the Grinch! Pete is a great guest.  I guess you cant have that many children without a great sense of humor.  This was a really fun episode.

Twelve episodes, can you believe it?  Please feel free to post ideas for new episodes as comments and dont forget to subscribe on iTunes.

Engineering Fatherhood Episode 12

See you next week!

WaterNerd signing off!

Mark

Welcome to 2012!

Funny stories, rock band microphones, children crying, cats everywhere.  This episode was absolute mayhem.  We even give a video game update.

In other news:

Here is to a safe, happy and prosperous 2012!

Mark

Engineering Fatherhood Episode 11

Hopefully you are downloading this on the new iPod you got for christmas.  Congratulations.  We hope you enjoy our tenth episode!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MATT!!!!  If you dont want to hear the whole sticker saga, just FF to 10:36 (just kidding, Matt)

John had a great Christmas with lots of fun family events but is a bit tired.  Believe it or not, he had neither a topic nor a rant.

Matt also had a great Christmas and threw out some wisdom on discipline which is important during the holidays with all the sugar and excitement.  His rant had to do with getting old which is funny because he is the youngest.  Wrong crowd for that complaint, Matt.  Bring that sort of thing to ‘JustinBeaverCast’.

Mark also had a great Christmas and added to our previous toy extravaganza episode.  Trampoline and microphone stand were the toys of Christmas.  Nintendo’s 3DS was also pretty good.  In Matt’s family it was the Imaginext Landfill.  What is funny about that?  Well, it IS a landfill and that is also where it will wind up (hopefully not too soony).  Oh the paradox!  John was just happy about his new gun case.  Some people are strange that way I guess.

We also learned that sometimes you really need a corded power tool.  Batteries are great, but is is nice to be able to pull out the big guns on a tough job.  Oh, and dont hold up a stage coach if John is driving (and they still have those where he lives, but is is pulled by a skidoo).

It was a great Christmas all around with a minimum of stress and fun family times had by all.  We are all traveling to the old homestead this week and will actually see each other in person!  Holy schnikies.  Let the stories, beer, chips and stickers fly!

We would like to reiteraterate our sincerest holiday wishes to all on this our tenth episode (!)

Thanks for listening,

Matt, Mark, and John, the EF DORK TRIO

Engineering Fatherhood Episode 10

The microphone was a big hit

Merry Christmas to all,

A very festive show.  We all go through our xmas preparations, discuss how to pick a good gift for your wife, talk about how Amazon.com has become a christmas staple and generally have a good time.

John really needs some Christmas spirit, so send him your positive vibes if you can.  He actually buys gifts for himself and wraps them.  Sounds sad here, but its funny on the cast.  We played carols and the clip of my three year old saying ‘ho ho ho’, but I am not sure it worked.

Thanks to cmorz and Glen Bush for the 5-star reviews.

Seriously folks, from our families to yours, have a safe and happy Christmas and remember, it’s all about the kids!

Peace,

Mark

Engineering Fatherhood Episode 9

Hey all,

Another fun filled episode.  Stuff to make you laugh, stuff to make you cry, stuff to make you puke.  You might even kill the cat.  Can I press the plunger next Papa John. 

This is a seriously funny episode.  If you dont laugh, we will send you your money back…

Just to balance things out, we ended on a sad note, discussing the loss of a family friend, Dan Keefe.  He was a wonderful man and he will be missed. 

Sorry, no funny pics this week folks. Want to get that episode out hot off the presses.

Engineering Fatherhood Episode 8

Mark

Real Brothers, Real Dads, Real Problems!

Hey all,

Go to the fridge, get a beer and sit back for another fun filled episode with the safetynerd, the spacenerd and the waternerd. 

New segment – Video Games worthy of a busy dad’s time by Matt

Kudos and good luck to Zack in his new job!

Here is the file –Engineering Fatherhood Episode 7

Happy listening,

Mark