My Wacky Is Back!

Remember me?  The guy who used to write spontaneous, fun, and somewhat interesting blog posts?  I sort of got lost there for a while.  I think the blog even helped to steal away my Wacky for a little while.  Too many worries in life can tip the balance the other way on you, and it doesn't take much to go over the edge.  I went through a period of time this last year when I just didn't have the usual fire that I have.  My thought is that I just had one too many things on my mind.  I work like a dog, try to play as hard as I can, typically skiing every weekend in the winter, riding my bike in my spare time in the summer, volunteering rabidly to fight against Pancreatic Cancer, a disease I hate with a passion after losing a life long role model and friend to it, and the list goes on.

About 3 years ago I decided I wanted to buy a sailboat.  The first year I loved it.  The second year I liked it, but just didn't have the time to use it.  The third year my Grandfather passed away, and the boat just sat on the mooring, forlorn and sad, like I felt.  She wasn't a boat that wanted to sit, she wanted a fresh breeze and a hard beat to windward.  I felt a constant guilt that I wasn't making use of the boat, that was for me a significant yearly investment of money.  I finally bit the bullet and sold Kittiwake this summer.  The difference has been tangible.  I feel like the boat was the pinnacle of the tipping point for me.  I just couldn't find the time to use her and it made me miserable to know I was wasting my money, and my boat was wasting away.  I only know this for a fact because I feel an incredible lightening of my spirit now.  Maybe I'm not too bright(you don't have to affirm this in the comments section!), but I never put two and two together.  I have been having a great summer so far, and I really haven't done anything monumental.  I have done a few projects around the house that have included my girls that have made me feel like a good father again.  I am creating and inventing things again.

It doesn't look like much, but it actually
does heat water

Shower Wood!

I built an outdoor shower out of a bunch of scrap wood that I collected from an old carriage house that my company is renovating.  Sounds simple right?  Well I am simple!  I taught my kids how to drill, screw, cut, resaw, dig, mix concrete, etc....I was a father again, a teacher, no matter how bad!  I'm hooked!  After building our shower which is fed by the ice cold stream in our yard, I decided it would be cool to build a solar hot water heater.  We have had some success with it, but again, assembling this project with my kids, and the laying in bed at night thinking about design problems and solving them has made my feel like my old wacky self again.  Now there are rumors of a waterslide in the back yard...Hmmmm.

The almost finished project! Nothing is ever
quite done around here!

I even talked my wife into mounting the solar monstrosity onto the side of my house, yeah I know, she loves me..  I guess my point is, that if you're not feeling like yourself, you might have just one small obstacle that is putting your over the point of no return.  For me it was a boat not being used.  Maybe for you it's a dirty garage, or too much overtime. Yup my garage is dirty but that ain't my tipping point!  Who the hell knows.  I promise you if you feel like you have lost your "wacky" that it is time to take a step back and evaluate life for a few minutes, because when you get that "wacky back it is sheer bliss!  I hope to be here blogging more often then I have been, but not at the expense of my Wacky!






Love,


Wacky Dad!

A New Way For Wacky To Brush Teeth!

So I recently got this cool proposal to try out a new state of the art power toothbrush from Oral-B called the Oral-B Professional Care SmartSeries with SmartGuide. I have been scrubbing my fangs with all manner of low tech brushes for  my whole life, so I jumped at the chance to try out something new for a change. Plus I figured any kind of toothbrush with lights, bells, and whistles, and a big kickin' motor in it just has to be plain cool!   

I've been using the new brush for a couple of weeks now, and have to say that it really is a step up from anything I have used in the past.  The way this thing scrubs in like running your mouth through a car wash!  Also the wireless timer is ultra cool and keeps you honest.  It pauses every 30 seconds so that your reminded to switch quadrants in your mouth.  I have used it religiously twice a day, and so far my mouth has been a happier place because of it for sure.  I have always tried to teach my kids good brushing habits, but this thing really has taught me how to properly focus for the brushing period that I use it for.  I really think my kids could benefit from one of these beauties.  Oral-B is offering a $10 mail-in rebate on select power toothbrushes April 29 through June 16, 2012. Please visit OralB.com for more information    I'll be posting with a follow up post to let you all know just how happy my mouth in another week or two.  Happy brushing all!


Happily Brushed!


Wacky Dad


“I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour by Dad Central Consulting on behalf of Oral-B and received a product sample to facilitate my review and a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate.”

Pancreatic Cancer - A Genocidal Dictator

It is amazing how much bile the thought of pancreatic cancer brings from my belly.  It has killed 2 of my friends now.  I've decided that pancreatic cancer is no different than the dictators throughout the world who routinely perform acts of genocide on their people. In the last 10 years pancreatic cancer has killed 400,000 of my countrymen and countrywomen who are predisposed to contracting this cancer. This is not acceptable. A 6% survival rate is embarrasing, and we can't stand by and keep the status quo. If this kind of atrocity was the result of a rogue nation killing its citizens then we would fully mobilize our armed forces and we would be kicking ass and taking names to the tune of billions of dollars. But in pancreatic cancer's case we let this silent dictator go on killing our friends and family and we fund it's fight quite meagerly. This is dead wrong.

I would like to ask you to stand with me against this scourge, this killer of our citizens and many more, and kick ass and take names the way Americans should when we are under attack. Why should we allow a piss ant disease to kill our friends, family and fellow humans. It is just wrong. I want to mobilize an army of Rhode Islanders and Americans to fight this disease fist to fist and beat it into oblivion. I for one am not going to stop until I find pancreatic cancer lying dead on the street like a brutal dictator deserves. Please join me in supporting or walking in Purple Stride Rhode Island www.purplestride.org/rhodeisland on May 6th. This walk is in support of the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network - the only organization that is leading the fight against pancreatic cancer in a comprehensive and fierce fashion. I look forward to fighting this disease together with you.



Sincerely.




Eric Costantino

The "Dad" Race

Myself and my 3 daughters last night before the
father/daughter dance.

Hello all, or none maybe.  I know I haven't been around in a while.  I guess that is due to a few reasons.  We have had a great time playing this winter.  Mostly on the slopes of Cannon Mountain in New Hampshire.  I have enjoyed another incredible year with my children, wife, father, and friends on the mountain, and even though mother nature didn't bring all the natural snow we prayed for, we still had one heck of a winter, and hopefully still have a couple of weekends left God willing.  Work has been very busy, and that has kept my little mind occupied.  I guess I may have needed a break from blogging, and a few other things.  I am cursed by an obsessive gene that really only allows me to focus on a couple of things at once, just so happens that the blog wasn't one of them this winter.  I needed some time to sort of recharge the batteries.  This winter has been a time of reflection for me.  I am not a deep guy by any means, but I know when I need to take a step back and focus on what is really important to me.  The one constant that always matters to me is my relationship with my family, and my three kids.  Like a lot of guys, I probably take my wife for granted more than I should.  But I think she knows I love her, and that she will always be a most important part of my life.  What I try to stay focused on, no matter what, is my relationship with my 3 daughters.  I have spent the last 3 months skiing with all of them on a weekly basis every Saturday and Sunday.  It is amazing what you can learn about your kids on a chairlift, or on a ski trail.  You can see toughness as they close the lift on a sub-zero day, you can learn about their zeal to excel, you can learn how much they love you as a dad, you can learn what it feels like for them to feel totally free as they spread their arms and cry out "wheeee" as they ski down the hill, and so much more.  What I learned, and continue to have to remind myself of, is that is so important to make every second with your kids count.  You don't have to try to be super dad, and don't be their best friend all of the time.  Just take some time to stop and smell the roses, and realize that we ain't leaving a bunch behind besides our family.  The lessons that we pass on to them are our true legacies.  I know that I am never going to be president, or be written about in some history book, but I do know that my kids will have a few fond memories to recall to their own children and grandchildren about their crazy old dad, and that thought truly makes me smile, hell I'm even smiling as I am typing.  As we get older we tend to look at our lives and take stock on where we're at.  Are we successful, are we doing well financially, etc..  I would suggest that what really matters most is not the rat race, but the dad race.  Are we being the best dads we can be.  For most of us the answer is no.  A lot of us lose focus on whats important, certainly including me, but when I take a step back and think about it, my family is the pinnacle to me. Helping to give my daughters confidence to conquer.  It doesn't matter a whole lot what they conquer, it could be a tough math equation, a standardized test, a mean ass glade trail at Cannon, as long as they conquer it, and feel the success and confidence that comes with that.  That is what makes me tick, and that is what makes me happy.  Knowing that my girls can kick ass, take names, and be happy kids and young ladies is the most gratifying thing I can do with my life.


Happily a Dad,


Wacky Dad 

Porta John Poetry

It is entirely possible I wrote some of my own poetry on
this fateful night!  What a drunken ass!

Well I am a little disappointed that I had to tone the title down a bit.  It really should be "Shithouse Poetry" but this being a "dad" blog and all I thought I should keep it somewhat family friendly, at least on the cover.  I thought of this post while standing at a stinking urinal in New Hampshire this past weekend.  I remember reading some silly poem that the Shithouse poet wrote, I don't remember the lines, but it brought back a few of my favorites from years past.  Some of them were written in Marine Corps Porta John's, affectionately called the "Shit House" - Thus the the name "Shithouse Poet".  You might ask what a shit house poet is.  This is how I have seen it defined on the web.  


Shithouse Poet Definition :  Widely-acclaimed anonymous author of infamous wit and wisdom written on the stalls and walls of many bathrooms. The "Shithouse Poet" is believed to actually be a number of different individuals acting in nearly every state of the United States. Much to the chagrin of janitors, the Shithouse Poet leaves his nuggets (pardon the pun) of wit and wisdom in the form of well-crafted prose and poetry through various means in bathrooms throughout the U.S.A.


Good stuff right?  Well I felt compelled to share 5 of my favorites with you from all of my years of "Shitty" reading.  Here Goes!  This list will end with the best of all time in my opinion.

5.  "Some come here to sit and think, Some come here to shit and stink, But I come here to scratch my balls, And read the bull shit on the walls..."


4.  "Here I sit all broken hearted, came to shit, but only farted." - Truly a classic!


3.  "Pee hard, Pee fast. Pull the handle and haul ass"

2.  "No need to hover above the seat, the crabs in here can jump six feet."


1.  "Please do not eat the big urinal mints..." - I saw this line as a young kid while standing at a urinal while attending sailing lessons at the East Greenwich Yacht Club.  Such refinement!  I know it ain't really poetry, but it is damned funny!  I told my kids this one tonight and they all roared!  It has always been my favorite.  If I may give you a piece of advice - share your favorite shithouse poetry while your wife is far, far away from the dinner table.  Some things are better left as little secrets between dads and kids.  I am taking the bullet for all of you morons out there by writing this post. Some of you may still have your wives fooled, I however, am a known degenerate, and she is surprised by nothing, thus this blog's existence.


Happy Shithouse Reading!


Wacky Dad


Please feel free to share some of your favorite shithouse poetry - keep it at least a little clean though!