6 Blogs That Interest Me

Is it only bloggers that read other blogs?  I hope not.  We may be leaning towards a way of blogging life that all our readers are bloggers themselves.

I hope not.  I hope that there is enough interest and entertainment to be found by those that don't blog.  So, it got me thinking.

Why not make a list of blogs that I find the most intriguing.  That I find inspiring.

I am putting myself in the eyes of a non-blogger and making a list.  I'm sure to upset a few bloggy friends with this, so I hope you understand of you're one of them!

In no particular order, here are a few blogs that inspire me to visit:

Random Ramblings of a Stay at Home Mum

It takes great strength to lose the love of your life.  When Lori lost her husband, she kept on writing.  She writes and you want to read.  Although I don't often visit, I know her story.  I know her story through all her friends that posted well wishes for her.

If I were a non-blogger, I would keep coming back to catch up, to read and to feed from her amazing strength and heartfelt story.  I wish her all the best for her and her family..

Extra Large as Life

Natalie is a sweetheart.  She puts herself out there via her blog.

Now, I'm not into fashion and all that jazz, but some of the photos she puts up are great. Certainly she makes you think about image.  She's empowering to put herself out there and give you confidence.  I wish I could put my self out for the world to see as she does.

If I weren't a blogger, I'd still pop in and see she's got going on.  Always got something interesting going on.

Living with Food Allergies and Celiac Disease

Mary has a blog all about her daughter, diagnosed with food allergies and Celiac disease.  This is a site that wouldn't necessarily interest me, as it discusses preparing foods for those with allergies.  But, she's much more than that.

She lets you into her family's life, her daughter's life.  The good times and the bad.  I can relate with my boy's health issues.  If I weren't a blogger, I'd still go and visit.  She's just too nice not to say hey to every once and a while. :-)  And I wish her and her family all the best.

One day I might even try making one of her dishes...!

Concept Ships

Are you kidding me?  These are some of the most amazing sci-fi pictures I have ever seen.  Simply amazing.

I stumbled across this site even before I was a blogger.  It is fantastic seeing all these original pictures of spacecraft.  It inspires me to live for thousands of years so I might one day see some of them.  Now to just find that dang fountain of youth.

Today I Found Out

Today I Found Out that the popsicle was invented by an 11 year old!  This blog teaches you odd things that you otherwise might not have known.  Strange things.  I love this sort of crap :-)

Recently I learnt that around 400 years ago there was a weapon that appeared between the invention of the cannon and the firearm.  It was a hand cannon.  How awesome is that!  Well, I think it is.  Learning little trinkets of info like this is something I find exciting.  Not so much an inspiring blog, but my thirst for these trinkets every now and then gets me going!

Worth1000

I want to try and be more creative.  Worth1000 is all about creativity.  A place I really should visit more often whenever I think I am out of ideas for anything, blogging or not blogging.  Awesome photos, awesome ideas, awesome site.


Well, there you have it.  A list of blogs, all different in their own ways.  All inspiring in their own ways.  Perhaps a few new ones that you never even heard of!

- tork

My First Official Fathers Day Draws Near

(c) Torkona

My boy isn't one year old yet, so I am yet to have experienced an official Father's day.  I have already celebrated it once though.

Before I finally became a Dad, my wife was around a month or so pregnant.

After around a year of trying to get pregnant, I was sitting on my couch at home.  Let me rephrase that, laying on my couch (trying for a year or longer is like going into the desert without water, it drains you if you don't rest and replenish with fliuds).

But enough of the disturbing images, it was Fathers day last year when my wife finally had a pregnancy test that returned a positive result.

Best Fathers day ever.

But, that was an unofficial one, so I am looking forward to my real one.  Am I looking forward to perhaps a day off?  Going down the local golf course for a hit of golf with the lads perhaps?  Off to a local unnamed monopolistic hardware store to purchase some new toys maybe?

Pfft..  I'm spending it with my boy.  I don't want presents, I don't want any gifts.  Well, they would be fantastic actually, I would like some more plants for my gardening, but thats not what I want Father's day to be all about.

I want Father's day to be all about the BBQ

Maybe not for this Father's day, as my wife and I are completely exhausted after the last few weeks.  But eventually, I want just BBQs either at home or out and about.  Gifts & hugs are what the chicks do.

Men!  We cook meat!  Red meat.  And we burn it.

Yes!

Then we kick the footy or play some cricket.  Perhaps turn on the computers and fight mighty online battles against each other.

I really am looking towards the future too much though.  I think I am just a wee bit excited.

Until he grows older, for now, I guess I am just looking forward to sitting on that couch again and remembering my last Father's day and realizing how far we've come.  From sitting on my couch exhausted, but relieved to sitting on my couch a year later exhausted...

..but watching my boy talking and rolling over all round our lounge room floor.

Yep, can't wait for that.  But if the wife really wants to get me that Bunnings voucher, I wouldn't turn a blind eye to it ;-)

- tork

Remember Those Days

Dad Poem - from the words of a Father

It has been tough, life, sometimes.
You look back on days past and remember days that were care free.
Days where you could take the long walk home, away from the beaten path.
Days where you smelt the air without a waft of car fumes.
I remember those days well.

Now, as time goes by, as the days age to where you age,
Bills mount high and nappies rise higher.
Stress exists where it should not.
You realise you need to let go.
You realise you need to remember those days that were care free.

Where days were lost in adventures amongst the hillside.
And nights were toasted until the morning ended them.
Where heart to hearts were talked if days like these would ever exist.
Whether you'd have those that love you around you.
With a family that is yours around you.

When stress gets you down, remember those days.
That is who you were and who you still are.
You forget where you've been when you lose where you are.
Remember to turn around and look at where you've been.
But remember to turn back around to where you are going.

- Torkona


This was inspired by Jessica at Finding One's Way, where she amazed me with her Thursday Dedication to me in March this year. (no, I hadn't forgotten)

I turned around and looked at where I've been with this blog of mine. Whenever I want to stop blogging, I remember Jess's post.  It reminds me that I may not have the worlds largest amount of followers, but I sure do have some of the best.  Just like you, right now, that managed to get themselves all the way down to this sentence in the post.  You're awesome and you're one of the reasons why I keep blogging.

Now I can turn back around and face forwards and see where this strange dad blog is going to take us :-)

- tork

Receding Mature Hairline, Why My Baby Has It

We are past the four months old stage and my young baby boy still has his baby receding hairline.

And the number of queries from Google I've been getting about this has been astounding.  I think it is time to figure this out.

Why Do Babies Have Receding Hairlines?

Good question.  Too bad it's one that no one knows the answer too!

I figure it is just luck of the draw, that it just happens.

As I've come to learn, babies are born with varying amounts of hair on their head.  My boy was born with a faint amount that covered his whole noggin, except for at the front where his hair was 'receding' to the left and right sides adjacent to the middle.

But after babies are born, the hair tends to either fall out or rub off due to them laying on their backs all the time. My little lion cub has an awesome mullet currently at the nape of his neck.  That part never hits the mattress :-)

Don't Worry, it's Not Permanent

The hair takes its time to grow.  I've known babies that can take a year or longer to get lengths of hair on their heads.  It will grow in, so don't worry about it.

So if you've landed here from anywhere in Google land, worry about what school they will attend or whether they will end up becoming a Justin Beiber fan.  These things are way more important to worry about.

I guess I am a little concerned for my boy though.  I had a receding hairline when I was his age.  My hair grew in, but it is now starting to recede just like it looked back as a baby.  So this is an apology to my boy if his hair does recede when he's my age.

"Don't blame me kid, blame your grandpa for your crappy hair genes!"

- tork

Why Doctors Can Sit On it and Rotate

(c) Dreamstime.com

It's Officially Unofficial.

My boy does not have vocal cord palsy!

I've never heard a baby his age talk so much, although, I haven't been around a kid his age that much!

I have arguments with him..

Me: "Ga-wa wa wa wa gurgle"

Him:  "Hee hee hee"

Me: "Waa ga ga waaaaa!!"

Him: "Gurgle waaaaaoooooaaaaa Gggggg"

Me: "Ok, you win"


It is a beautiful thing.

Any other parents would be sick of him, laying on his back in his portacot, talking to himself all day long.

To us, it is like listening to Mozart for the first time, way back in the 1700's.  It's something beautiful that we've been longing to hear.

To the Doctors that jumped to conclusion of him having Vocal Cord Palsy and stressing us out for his first few months of life: you can go eat a big fat one my friends..

His "Lah's" and "Da's" are being said way before any other kids his age.

Phew!  So it's not official, as in, not out of the mouth of a doctor, but they are as useful as a 'No Graffiti' sign at a skate park. I don't need a doctor to tell us his cords work :-)

Now we are looking forward to getting the Oxygen off his face over the coming weeks.  Here's hoping that will happen too!

- tork

Tork's Blog Undergoes Massive Exciting Changes

Well, I bit the bullet.  I took the bull by the horns. I *insert another metaphor here*.

Enough of that, because Tork's blog is undergoing an exciting change.

Exciting for me, hopefully for you guys too.

(c) Dreamstime.com

I am splitting this blog in half!  Just like taking a cutting from a plant then jamming it into the ground to see if it will grow.

I am officially no longer providing you blogging tips via Tork's blog, nor will you see weekly Songs to Inspire.  They may appear every now and then, when time allows it.

So, what does that mean?

Tork's blog will now only exist as a Daddy Blog!

It was well overdue to sort myself out and develop a blog for a particular niche, rather than a little from Column A and a little from Column B all mashed into one.

So here we are, Tork's Blog.  A pure dad blog all about the perspective of being a father.  A thorn amongst the roses of mum bloggers.  My goal is to rank as highly as possibly in the eyes of you Mums and Dads out there as a dad blogger, hopefully becoming a great source for a few stories and life as a father.

This is what I've learnt you all love the most about Tork's blog, and so do I.

But what about the blog tips?

I love blogging, it's an addictive pastime.  I love giving tips on how to blog to help anyone who wants it, so I am not going to stop sharing for anyone that finds it helpful.

This is what my blog splitting in half is all about.

Let me introduce to you: The Blog Plan.

The Blog Plan is my brand new blog.  Here I will house all my blog tips that I am dying to share with you.  But, it's not your average blog.

The Blog Plan will share every thing that I do on the blog.  It will be a step by step blog showing how I have built the blog.

It will be a guide for a blogger not knowing where to start out, or a place to go to add the extra touches you may not have known about.

It's a blog for all bloggers, newbies, novices, experts, the advanced and you dirty wordpress bloggers :-)

Best of all, I've written an eBook for all my new subscribers called 49 Free Ways to Increase Blog Traffic. I've been a busy boy haven't I.

It needs a lot of work still, but that's the idea, for people to see a blog in it's "crap first few months" turn into a "million dollar a year income source".  One can only dream.

Don't Forget to Breathe Torky Boy

Phew!  What a crazy few weeks I've had putting this together! I've got too many blogs hehehehe.

But hopefully now my focus will improve on my niches and you'll tell all your friends how awesome I am. :-)

I want to say that I would highly recommend others to focus on developing a niche to keep their readers interested, but.. I want to say it, but that would be a blog tip.  That's what The Blog Plan is for now!

Love to hear your opinion in splitting my blog.  Do you think it's a good idea?

- tork

Father and Son

Photo © Andrey Kiselev | Dreamstime.com

Tonight, I had a moment that most parents might take for granted.


I held my baby boy over my shoulder and caught a glimpse of our reflection in my sliding door window.


Why is this so special to me?  Well, I hardly get to see that sort of thing.  My little lion cub is hooked up to oxygen tanks due to his difficulty in breathing, so he rarely gets moved around the house further than his oxygen tank or bedroom.


Yeah it's a bit weird, but I never can pick him up and put him in front of a mirror and just look at the both of us.


Anyway, I also am away from home working, like many dad's are, and I miss out on little moments like these.  Whenever I come home, the little champ is sleepy from a big day of games.


But whilst his oxygen was disconnected to be replaced with new specs, looking at our reflection I realised something I've known for a long time now.


I am a dad.  He is my son.


..and I am lucky.


Hopefully soon, as we've been told we might only have to keep him on oxygen at nights, we'll get to walk him around our whole home much easier.


And little moments that sometimes get taken for granted I might take for granted one day too.


I need more photos taken with me and my son. I want to look at them and smile at how much we look alike.


So don't take the little things for granted with your kids.  And to the stay at home mums, remember how lucky you are to spend at home with your kids, no matter how hard it sometimes can get.


- tork

After The Baby Blog Months, I am at a Crossroads

It was Decemebr 7th, 2010.

A strange boy, new to the scene decided to start a blog.

Almost 9 months later (the baby months), a crossroads has been hit.

What do I want with Tork's blog? Am I doing the right thing or am I all over the place?

I find it is split into 3 different directions.  My:

• Songs to Inspire 
• Blog Help
• Life as a Dad

I love to inspire, with songs and poetry and that kind of crap (hehehe).

I also love to blog and with my technical knowledge of HTML, websites and social media, I love to help others.

But most importantly, I love being a Dad.  I love giving the perspective of being a Dad.  Dad bloggers are few and far between.  We are needed to "keep the peace" :-)


But I want to know your perspective for the future of this blog.  Why do you visit? What do you enjoy the most?

So it might take a few minutes of your time, but please leave a comment.  I'd love to hear from you about what you enjoy the most.  It could be one of them or all of them, or even something else.

If you'd prefer, I have a poll placed to the top left (underneath my blog badges link) that you can submit your opinion via, but I would love it if you could do both.

Can't wait to find out more about what you think of this guy behind the keyboard!

- tork