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Toys R Us Rewards (NOT!)

March 30, 2012 By

geoffreyI have a serious problem with rewards programs that don’t pay off. The most serious offender I have found yet is Toys R Us.

It was the supermarkets who largely started the modern rewards program. Let us track what you are buying and we will kick you a nice discount. Supermarkets deliver on their promise every time you shop, and they show it on your receipt. I save anywhere from 10%-14% at Safeway for example. It’s easy and simple, I shop and I save, every time, everyday.

Toys R Us rewards program is not so simple, however, and it has never actually paid off for me. When you shop at Toys R Us you build up rewards points and eventually you get some kind of discount, usually a $5 off coupon to spend. But here’s the trick, the coupon is only good for a certain period of time after which is expires. This period of time has never been when I am shopping coincidentally. Funny how they work that out. Once, I did hit the coupon period and excitedly I went to buy diapers and formula. At the checkout the checker tried to run the discount but it didn’t work. After some checking she informed me the coupon was not valid for diapers or formula. I stared at her completely dumbfounded. What are the two most shopped for things at Toys/Babys R Us? Fracking diapers and formula! Look, I did my part, I shopped at your store and bought a bunch of things. Now I earned a measly $5 and you’re not going to let me use it! What kind of a reward is that!

There are other stores that also make getting your reward less than easy. I am so sick of companies jerking me around for $5. Can’t you just let me have the reward? Let me feel some sense of satisfaction from shopping with you? Give me a morsel of happiness? I have traded my shopping habits, hugely valuable for the company, willingly and in good faith and you make it nearly impossible to exchange your part of the bargin.

I no longer shop with Toys R Us or Babys R Us, as much as I can keep my wife away. There is plenty of business that will go to someone else, probably Target. You know why? Target gives me a 5% discount when I use my Target card, every day, every time! No screwing around.

Filed Under: Blog, Digital Dads, Marketing, Personal Tagged With: , ,

McDonalds Reduces Fries In Happy Meals

July 26, 2011 By

Happy MealThank you McDonalds. As a parent, it’s very difficult to avoid a little McDonalds now and then. We  have reduced our visits quite a bit, but sometimes there’s no avoiding it. McDonalds announced today that they will be cutting the french fry portion of their Happy Meal in half and adding apples. Thankfully they will not add a dipping sauce for the apples like so many other so. That sauce is basically a highly sugary carmel sauce. McDonalds also says they will reduce saturated fats, sugar and calories across the entire menu in time as well.

Consumer groups have been hammering McDonalds for years now to change their manu in these ways. A recent study came out last week noting that more sates than ever now count their population as obese. I’m not sure if American attitudes on health and fitness are strong enough to impact McDonalds as more people choose better options but I believe companies like McDonalds have a moral responsibility to act when studies like these come out. There is no doubt they are contributing to the obesity of America which has all kinds of negative impacts in other areas. Feed us, McDonalds but please don’t kill us. As a parent I applaud these recent changes as my 3yr old will eat little else but chicken nuggets and Mac&Cheese.

Filed Under: Blog, Digital Dads, Food/Eating, Health Tagged With: , , ,

Three Times A Daddy: Introducing Christopher

March 8, 2011 By

ChristopherThey say the third time is a charm. On Feb 8 I became a father for the third time. It’s long past due to introduce Christopher Jacobs. His birth and the days after are already chronicled in a recent post. At this point, all is well and we are all happy and healthy. I love my girls more than anything but I have to say I was really happy to have a boy to round things out. I’m looking forward to a different experience and a whole new special bomding that can only happen between a father and son. One strange thing is Capella at only two and a half, is certainly still a baby, but with Christopher around it’s harder to think of her as a baby. She seems so big now. To be fair she is very much a toddler so that does make a difference.

We never had much trouble finding names for girls but from the beginning we were always more torn on boy names. Christopher was not named until several days after he was born and it was something that literally came to me as I was eating lunch in the hospital cafeteria. I popped into my head and I liked it right away. Lisa took a little longer to warm up to it but eventually it seemed to fit him perfectly. Welcome to the world Christopher.

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Climbing Through The Nine Layers Of Hell

February 22, 2011 By

Dantes InfernoWe’ve had a pretty interesting week and a half.

The labor and delivery of Christopher was crazy enough. 36hrs for the whole thing which included incorrect doses of petocin, a bag of water that didn’t quite break, contemplations of c-section and finally an incredibly intense, manic and painful hour and fifteen minuets for the complete dilation and birth. This is our third chid. I have experience in these things. I’ve never, ever, experienced anything like that in my life. It’s just nothing like the videos tell you. It never is.

Despite it all, Christopher was born and is fit as a fiddle. We walked out of the hospital, no wheelchair needed. Lisa felt great.

24hrs later Lisa has the chills and a slight fever. Nursing is not going so well. The fever and chills get worse. By the next day things are falling apart fast. Now Lisa develops a strange rash on her hands that looks like hand foot and mouth disease.We have a baby visit with the pediatrician who says he has lost more weight than he should and he’s jaundice. It’s from not nursing well which is due to Lisa’s sickness. So we start supplementing immediately.  It’s the weekend, of course, and our ob is not on call or available. The on call doc prescribes antibiotics. Seems sensible enough but we are worried about the rash so we go to a clinic on a cold, wet Portland night. The clinic doctor takes one look at Lisa and says she has no idea what the rash is but thinks we aught to get ourselves to a hospital right away. The baby is on the bottle now and is already looking better in good hands of  Lisa’s mother so off to the hospital we go. Lisa’s not looking so good.

It takes them awhile and many scans/tests but the hospital docs and our regular ob do decide that Lisa has a viral phenomena. She is having trouble breathing by this time and is clearly retaining too much fluid from the pregnancy. We end up spending the better part of three days in the hospital recovering from the phenomena.  Lisa feels terrible and misses the baby too. Finally she is well enough to go home, again.

By the time we get home our oldest daughter (12) has a bad case of the flu. She is as sick as I’ve ever seen her and she ends up missing an entire week of school. Now we’ve got a post pardom recovering mom who is also recovering from phenomena and a kid with the flu. By the end of the week our daughter is starting to feel a little better. I am putting our 2yr old to sleep and my stomach is killing me. I can’t stand it anymore and I puke, hard and heavy. It’s bad. I don’t leave bed for the next day and a half. I am nauseous when I stand and I have body aches and a headache like I’ve never known.

By the time I am able to be somewhat functional although still feeling bad, Lisa’s mom starts feeling it. She has the chills and feels sick. Her dad goes home that night and pukes all evening. It’s spreading and we’ve all got it. By the next day Lisa’s mom is slightly better but now Lisa is in full nauseous, body ache sick mode. Lisa stays in bed for a day and a half.

Today, Lisa made it out of bed. Her mom and dad are looking much better and I’m feeling better than I have in days. I think today we are breaking through the last layer of hell and are seeing a bit of daylight. Christopher, you are a beautiful child; perfect in every way, but the story of your birth and postpartum is a thing of legend.

Filed Under: Blog, Digital Dads, Health, Life Tagged With: , , , ,

What Happened To My Little Girl?

January 5, 2010 By

Now that we have two kids I feel like an experienced parent, until I get a reminder that our first child is only 10 and we haven’t seen anything yet with regard to her. At 10 we are getting perilously close to the very sensitive years and, God help us, the teen years. You can already see clear changes in Virginia’s psyche and attitude. What she cares about; what she wonders about. She’s just not a little girl anymore.

Most disturbing is she is getting breasts already and hair. Is that normal? Is it really time? Really? I don’t know, I’ve never been through this before. As a father I feel very much at a loss here as these are more female issues. She is entering a time that is best navigated by mom. It is at this time I also feel bad for single parents. Thank God for my wife, I wouldn’t want to do this alone.

It is said that kids grow up fast so enjoy them and it is so very true. It’s nearly impossible to perceive when your in the thick of it but boy do you notice when you look back down the road. I’m soaking every bit of everything I can from Capella in her baby stage now. She is such a great baby and I’m going to miss it. I never would have thought this of myself but I love babies.

Ten year olds are pretty cool too.

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Teenage Girls – I'm Not Ready

October 27, 2009 By

life12Virginia is not a teenager yet, but it’s fast approaching and I’m feeling already out of my depth. The surge of hormones and emotions are upon us, certain body parts are blossoming and she needs advice about girlfriend fights. I’m a boy; boys don’t fight like that. We don’t think so much about it. Boys rarely ask the question why. Why does she do that to me? You should talk to your mom feels like such a cop out, but in reality it’s probably a very good idea. Virginia already tells me she gets better answers from mom than me. “Girls think about things so differently than boys” she says to me. You are quite correct Virginia, quite correct. But remember, when you’re ready to edit that video blog, now that your dad can help you with.

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