One afternoon in my office, a student I had known for a few years made an interesting comment about me. “Mr Trout,” he said, “you eat, breathe, and sleep Marketing.” For better or worse, that’s probably true. I teach marketing. I take on markeitng projects for local businesses. And sadly, I have marketing so in…
Month: May 2013
I’m feeling sick – can you get me a taco?
We all want to teach our kids how to do the right things. How to act in different situations. But there are a few things I don’t want my kids to learn from me.At the top of that list would be what not to eat when you’re sick. I’m not sure how it’s happened, but…
Confessions of cheeseburger-for-breakfast eater
There’s something almost magical about an after-school snack. Not for me, although I’m usually tempted, but for Sam. If it was up to Sam, the after-school snack would be part of the Bill of Rights. Actually, if you were to ask him, he would swear that it’s already there. No day is complete without the…
I’m always up for a good (or bad) Lifetime movie
I almost always enjoy getting to work. For one reason, I enjoy my job. But even more than that, by the time I get to work, I feel like my day is already made. I think a lot of parents probably feel that way. It’s sometimes so stressful to try to get everything done in…
Of Peanut Butter and Taco Bell
I’ve been making school lunches for almost as long as I can remember. It goes waaaaay back. That’s because both of my kids are pretty much very picky eaters. I’ve never known this to be a problem for me, which is one reason why I’m always in need of losing about 10 pounds, but that’s…
DO . . . YOU . . . SPEAK . . . ENGLISH
I’m getting a pretty good idea of how travelers to a foreign country must feel. People look at you a bit funny, and they tend to talk very slowly. I’ve found myself to be the foreigner when it comes to traveling to my son’s elementary school. I pretty much did the same thing when my…
Pass the uhhhh . . . uhhhhh . . . whatever that is.
There are three things I’ve learned about cooking in my time as a single dad. First, ANY pizza is good at ANY time of ANY day! Second, to paraphrase cousin Eddie from National Lampoon’s Vacation, “I don’t know why they call it Hamburger Helper. It does just fine by itself.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkExpbnjsX8 And finally, no matter what…
That moment when . . .
I can still remember the moment well . . . Tracie, my wife, had passed away about two weeks before. It was a fall morning, and the last of the family members had just left about an hour before. It had been, to say the least, a trying previous 10 months. I now found myself…
Isn’t there an instruction book for this?
First, let me emphasize, I am not a parenting expert. This will become painfully obvious as you continue to read. This is about my adventures (or struggles, obstacles, daily dilemmas – you fill in the blank) of raising two kids as a single dad. The one thing I’ve noticed over the last 8-plus years as…
Holding together the jello 