Jim L. posted an article on The Busy Dad Blog - Feb 7, 2012, 10:40 am
Fury failed his Spanish test last week. As a consequence, we took his screen time away for the weekend (no TV, no computer). This hits him harder than most kids because we have a "no screen time during the weekdays" rule. You can wag a finger at me all you like, but my response will always be "at le...
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Jim L. posted an article on The Busy Dad Blog - Jan 31, 2012, 5:05 pm
We all do it. We all have that one indicator we've designated as the DMZ between the Republic of Healthy Happy and the Commernist Socialist Crappiarchy of Sick. Perhaps it dry eyes for you, or maybe it's that itch at the back of your throat. Whatever it is, once you cross it, you're in enemy territo...
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Jim L. posted an article on The Busy Dad Blog - Jan 24, 2012, 3:38 pm
I had this whole long intro written for this video, but I decided to scrap it. One simply cannot introduce a video of himself sampling a bug platter with any degree of eloquence or justification. This was filmed when MrLady and I attended a China-North America business summit in Harbin, China this p...
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Jim L. posted an article on The Busy Dad Blog - Jan 18, 2012, 11:13 am
And they ruin the internet. They also make Lunchboxdaily really boring. We finally get bi-partisan support on something and it's THIS? I say let the parties go back to bickering, and let us make fun of it all on the internet. I'm not technically savvy enough to shut my site down for a day in prot...
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Jim L. posted an article on The Busy Dad Blog - Jan 16, 2012, 10:00 am
I can tell you one thing: if anyone ever does a Google search for kitchen appliances and Johnny Cash, I can rest assured that my blog will rank prominently. You deserve some background. Kenmore has invited me to their Kenmore Live Studio in Chicago this coming weekend for a Blogger Summit to check ...
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Jim L. posted an article on The Busy Dad Blog - Jan 9, 2012, 5:01 pm
Sometime last fall, Brainy Baby asked if I wanted to try their latest flashcard/DVD/Book set, the 123s Counting Collection. I couldn't really say no. Because that would be like saying "no, I don't want my baby to be smarter." At least to me it does. Well played, Brainy Baby. We tried them out this ...
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Jim L. posted an article on The Busy Dad Blog - Dec 25, 2011, 3:46 pm
From my family to yours. Wishing you the very best. Whatever that means to you this time of year.
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Jim L. posted an article on The Busy Dad Blog - Dec 21, 2011, 7:26 pm
The first year I moved to California, my entire family went on vacation to Hong Kong for the holidays. Because of my work schedule, I couldn't go with them. Luckily, I appreciate solitude, and since I was a newly independent single guy, the prospect of spending the holidays by myself in LA didn't se...
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Jim L. posted an article on The Busy Dad Blog - Dec 18, 2011, 1:36 am
Tomorrow night at this time, I will be trying to employ strategies to distract myself from the fact that I won't be able to watch another episode of Dexter for an entire year. I'm one of those people who gets genuinely angry when the credits begin to roll, so you can imagine what it's like to watch ...
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Jim L. posted an article on The Busy Dad Blog - Dec 9, 2011, 5:17 pm
I sold my beloved Chevy Truck more than 2 years ago because we put Fury in private school and needed money to pay for it. It was a painful, but very necessary act of parenting that I'm reminded of every 20th of the month, when his tuition gets pulled out of my bank account. Also, whenever we buy thi...
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Jim L. posted an article on The Busy Dad Blog - Dec 5, 2011, 11:38 pm
... that I don't even do my post about it anywhere near November. Anyway, Thanksgiving is a state of mind. It's an anytime, all the time kind of thing. Or at least it should be. Read this and you'll agree. So, Thanksgiving... it's never really been a turkey kind of day for my family. First, my par...
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Jim L. posted an article on The Busy Dad Blog - Dec 4, 2011, 12:45 pm
This isn't so much a post about two new burgers from Red Robin and Wendy's, as it is a post about PR, timing and entropy. As a former PR professional, I respect the PR game. I laugh at bad pitches like everyone else, but I do it with a twinge of sympathy. First, a disclaimer: I'm not a big PR score...
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Jim L. posted an article on The Busy Dad Blog - Dec 2, 2011, 2:41 pm
I got a call from d wife in my hotel room the other night while I was in San Francisco on business. "It's really windy out right now and I'm scared. Our fence just blew over." "Oh, a piece of the fence flew off? I'll check it out when I get home." "No. It blew over." "Oh. Well, don't worry. It w...
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Jim L. posted an article on The Busy Dad Blog - Nov 2, 2011, 3:50 pm
... !" 2) I don't do anything I'm not good at. I'm too competitive. 3) I always wanted to look like an Asian villain. The best ones have cool facial hair. Cases in point:  Odd Job from Goldfinger. Kickin' it old school. Mr. Fuji from WWF. Fake kickin' it. Ming the Merciless from Flash Gordon...
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Jim L. posted an article on The Busy Dad Blog - Oct 30, 2011, 5:18 pm
... started. Quickly. While I'm confident that my recipe (Asian Pork Sliders) brings the noise, there are a ton more recipes over on ... here are the recipes that go along with the above: Asian Pork Sliders My philosophy with parties is that you can only have fun ... with some really tasty com...
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Jim L. posted an article on The Busy Dad Blog - Oct 27, 2011, 11:26 am
As parents, we often make mistakes. And while those of us who make them must bear the unfortunate consequences of our actions, we can at least share them with the collective parenting community in the hopes that our experiences serve to prevent others from doing the same. Babies shouldn't have shak...
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Jim L. posted an article on The Busy Dad Blog - Oct 24, 2011, 8:22 pm
When I was three, my mom was in the kitchen one night slicing pork for a stir fry. Due to a recent bout with diarrhea, I hadn't eaten any real food for a while, so I sat there watching, wanting, yearning. If you know three-year olds, you know that they're never simply watching. They're casing the jo...
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Jim L. posted an article on The Busy Dad Blog - Oct 22, 2011, 1:33 pm
At least they love me, and by association, other dads, I'm assuming. And I really love breaking up sentences with commas. How did I come to this conclusion? I use a lot of commas. As for the other thing, they are actually paying me to tell you about my experiences, advice and thoughts related to get...
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Jim L. posted an article on The Busy Dad Blog - Oct 20, 2011, 1:35 pm
When I made the difficult decision a few years ago to sell my beloved truck to pay for private school, I knew it was the right thing to do. However, it was merely a parental gut feeling. I didn't have the metrics to back it up. And when you're shelling out an extra grand per month, you kind of yearn...
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Jim L. posted an article on The Busy Dad Blog - Oct 8, 2011, 5:31 pm
  Greetings, comrades. I just got back from China (if you count 'just' in Jim Blog years). Some of you may recall that my blog was banned the last time I was there. This time, I couldn't use that convenient excuse to let this blog lay fallow. Apparently, BusyDad has been deemed fit for the People....
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Jim L. posted an article on The Busy Dad Blog - Sep 13, 2011, 11:31 am
Last year, the LA County Fair invited my family to partake in the sights, sounds and festivities that make this annual celebration one of the most popular events in Los Angeles. I ate food. And blogged about it. This year, they recognized my forte and invited Fury and me to a preview night. For Foo...
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Jim L. posted an article on The Busy Dad Blog - Sep 7, 2011, 11:30 am
Last summer, d Wife went online to find Fury a lunchbox for the upcoming school year. I don't know how she stumbled upon it, but she ended up purchasing one from Go Green Lunchbox. When it arrived, I didn't think much of it. It was a lunchbox. I have better things in my life to pay attention to. But...
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Jim L. posted an article on The Busy Dad Blog - Aug 29, 2011, 5:35 pm
I have several cardinal rules that I stick to: never pass up a good parking space, always go for the lemon flavored choice, always watch Best in Show if you catch it on TV, and do whatever food related project Rachel ropes you into. Rachel told the Cabot Cheese people to send me two bricks of cheese...
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Jim L. posted an article on The Busy Dad Blog - Aug 1, 2011, 5:51 am
Hi there... if you regularly read this blog, then here's more of the same: a random video that I made. If you're here because of something to do with Blogher (either you saw that this post was honored as one of Blogher's Voices of the Year in the Life category, or you met me at the conference in 4 ...
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Jim L. posted an article on The Busy Dad Blog - Jun 15, 2011, 1:12 pm
You know what? I'm really excellent at making pre-vacation to-do lists. Before we embarked on our family trip to visit my in-laws in the Philippines, I planned to tie up all my loose ends at work, and also complete my blogging obligations. That way, after the 16 hour flight, all I had to worry about...
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Jim L. posted an article on The Busy Dad Blog - May 20, 2011, 3:00 am
Happy Birthday, baby girl! May this be the first of hundreds of dances we share. Love, Dada
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Jim L. posted an article on The Busy Dad Blog - May 10, 2011, 1:49 am
A couple weeks ago, my boss called to tell me that we were having dinner with a really important contact. In New York City, on Easter Sunday. I live in Los Angeles, and it was Thursday. I should have known the Chinese Communist Party was behind this. No really, it was. My company is owned by a techn...
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Jim L. posted an article on The Busy Dad Blog - Apr 15, 2011, 3:34 am
9 years ago today, I discovered how hard it is to perform a simple task like verify that there are 10 little fingers and toes when your heart is racing at 160 bpm, and your brain is at once bewildered, amazed and freaked the hell out. That's probably why I don't remember much from that first night y...
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Jim L. posted an article on The Busy Dad Blog - Apr 11, 2011, 1:29 pm
Hey everybody! I got a new job. Actually, I went back to an old job. It's complicated. Anyway, the point isn't that I got a new job. The point is, I'm trying to make excuses for not putting up a real post since mid-December. But considering my new/old job is only 15 min from my house and I have comp...
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Jim L. posted an article on The Busy Dad Blog - Mar 12, 2011, 2:02 am
I like to play with fire. And utensils. So does MrLady. Wanna join us? While we can't get all TSA on you, if you register for our live cooking class on Wed, March 16, we'll try to stimulate something. Hopefully it's your desire to cook. At 8pm EST, MrLady and I are going to be hosting a live video ...
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Jim L. posted an article on The Busy Dad Blog - Feb 4, 2011, 8:34 pm
I attended the Blissdom conference last week, and it was awesome. I did things that I can't ever do when my wife is around. Like fall sleep with my shoes on. Oh yes I did. P. Diddy where you at? You better sign this bad boy.  Let's put this east coast west coast beef aside. It's all about the Lisa...
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Jim L. posted an article on The Busy Dad Blog - Jan 24, 2011, 4:40 pm
Help me fellow blogger... you're my only hope. Some of you may know that I'm going to be speaking at Blissdom in a few days. This is not unlike me, 28 years ago, saying "some of you may know, I have a book report due in a few days." Because tonight is when I crack open the book, read as fast as I c...
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Jim L. posted an article on The Busy Dad Blog - Dec 17, 2010, 11:32 pm
The crowd was evenly split, half of them waving dollar bills while mockingly encouraging their chosen gladiator, Jeff. The other half doing the same, but chanting "Greasy! Greasy! Greasy!" Greasy Lee. I didn't choose that name. It was bestowed by the 5th grade bully elite upon the chubby Asian kid ...
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Jim L. posted an article on The Busy Dad Blog - Dec 16, 2010, 12:09 am
A good spreadsheet makes sense of the world. It gives every data point a reason to exist. It is the matrix, defined, contained and tangible. Within these rows and columns exists power. The power to decide who actually got a return on investment for watching my Saw video and completing the challenge...
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Jim L. posted an article on The Busy Dad Blog - Dec 5, 2010, 10:04 pm
If you know me at all, you know that I am not a review blogger. I don't often do giveaways either. However, if you wave something cool in front of my face for free, and also tell me that I can break something off for my readers, well then I start humming "it ain't no fun, if the homies can't haaaaav...
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Jim L. posted an article on The Busy Dad Blog - Dec 1, 2010, 11:14 am
Today is me (my?) and Lisa's 9th wedding anniversary. 9 years ago today, we took a leap of faith. And while all the dust hasn't yet cleared, we're still standing. And we've got two more standing beside us. Well, not really. One is kind of rolling around and eating her feet. And I've learned a few th...
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Jim L. posted an article on The Busy Dad Blog - Nov 18, 2010, 10:09 am
The other day, I recieved a huge box from Kikkoman. You may know them as the soy sauce people. You're right. They do indeed make the best soy sauce this side of the Great Wall. What I didn't realize was that Kikkoman soy sauce makes an excellent brining solution for your holiday turkey too. What a k...
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Jim L. posted an article on The Busy Dad Blog - Nov 15, 2010, 10:45 am
Note: I'm giving away a ton of stuff this month. If you are new to this blog, I don't often do this. If you are a repeat reader, wow. Just wow. You're still here. Hey, we're creeping up on the holiday season and that means there are a ton of companies out there who want to get your attention. Which ...
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Jim L. posted an article on The Busy Dad Blog - Nov 7, 2010, 11:52 pm
Tis the season for holiday product reviews! But don't worry, I only review things if I can make the review entertaining (loosely defined), or if it's Star Wars related. Whew, now the pressure's off if you hate this video. I love making my own rules. Today, Fury and I review two Star Wars things: M...
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Jim L. posted an article on The Busy Dad Blog - Nov 6, 2010, 2:21 am
This week, McDonald's announced the return of the McRib sandwich. What a slap in the face. For nearly 20 years, I have kept the porch light on for the best thing McDonalds ever threw into an elongated semi-spherical cardboard container with ejection flaps: the fried apple pie. From the "Caution, Fi...
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Jim L. posted an article on The Busy Dad Blog - Oct 31, 2010, 12:11 am
Halloween rocks. Because it's the one day a year I can indulge my pop culture fantasies without being called a Comicon/Star Wars convention geek. And we at the BD household like to go all out, like here and here, so you can see how much this holiday means to us. Screw the candy! I'm all about the "m...
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Jim L. posted an article on The Busy Dad Blog - Oct 26, 2010, 2:59 am
As a community leader in the "SoCal Family Connect" community on BlogFrog, I'm afforded the opportunity to discuss anything and everything about parenting, family and other related topics with a bunch of cool people from all over. And I get to use more then 140 characters. I also get to think before...
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Jim L. posted an article on The Busy Dad Blog - Oct 18, 2010, 2:58 pm
"Name?" "Jim Lin" The volunteer at the check-in table flipped through her clipboard a couple times before giving me the "are you sure?" look. "Oh right, I must be listed at the celebrity tabl--" That thought bubble of mine abruptly popped as she followed up with "are you on a list?" "Oh, yeah. ...
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Jim L. posted an article on The Busy Dad Blog - Oct 7, 2010, 1:03 am
For once, I can say I'm working out just for boobs and not get dirty looks. Hey, I saw that! Fine, let me explain. You know October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month right? You also might be aware that I kick my own ass 3 times a week at 6 in the morning (which is nuts in its own right) do...
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Jim L. posted an article on The Busy Dad Blog - Sep 30, 2010, 10:49 am
Prologue I have the most random taste in music. On a single drive home from work, my soundtrack will cover everything from Mack 10 to Abba to John Coltrane to The Descendents to Luciano Pavarotti to Waylon Jennings to Poison and back again. Chapter 1: Willie Nelson Yes, I love Willie Nelson. Don'...
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Jim L. posted an article on The Busy Dad Blog - Sep 21, 2010, 1:53 am
This is not a gourmet post. This post contains no recipes. This post is about me eating. In the most visceral way. Why? Because when you decide to haul your family to the LA County Fair, you better be willing to get your grub on. I've driven to the fair 4 times, and have attended it 3. That's how h...
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Jim L. posted an article on The Busy Dad Blog - Sep 14, 2010, 11:57 am
In my younger days, discussion forums were like the Thunderdome. They were a place where keyboard warriors like me could go and pwn other members, put them down with witty insults, and vie for the title of last man standing atop a pile of vanquished LOLcat, Oh Snap, You're Doing it Wrong, Pwned and ...
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Jim L. posted an article on The Busy Dad Blog - Sep 7, 2010, 10:45 am
As dad bloggers, we men are far outnumbered in the parent blogging world. To survive, we rely on our wits, our ability to speak intelligently about breast feeding, and Swiss Army Knife skills. Also, plenty of love, as Backpacking Dad and I demonstrate below: Our apologies to Scrubs, and parent blog...
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Jim L. posted an article on The Busy Dad Blog - Aug 30, 2010, 1:53 am
When I was a fresh college grad, I interviewed with Leo Burnett, one of the world's top 10 ad agencies. I made it through the college recruiting process and was flown to their Chicago headquarters for a day of second round interviews. I was 9 gatekeepers away from achieving my lifelong dream of bein...
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Jim L. posted an article on The Busy Dad Blog - Aug 27, 2010, 3:55 am
Last weekend, I flew home to Boston. I didn't gather up the wife and kiddies, didn't call a bunch of friends in town, didn't make plans to hit all my favorite eateries, didn't do much more than pack a black suit and a toothbrush, really. I flew home to pay respects to my grandfather, who had just pa...
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