Christmas is over..

Another Christmas has come and gone.  Another month of Christmas stuff that all people go through.

Drives you crazy sometimes, but when it comes down to it, spending time with family folks is a great thing.  Especially when you have a new baby that everyone wants to see.

My 15 Gift Ideas for Dad this Xmas has been great use to a lot of people.  Too bad a lot of things I didn't get to cross off my wish list.

I got the Hardware Store vouchers, which is awesome. I also got the novelty t-shirts.  But that was it :-(

So, coming from a recent post of mine about Why Don't You Like Dad Blogs But Love Mum Blogs, I'm going to try and set some things straight about my list and dad blogs.

I'm going to try and gain these products via being a promoting arse monkey (nicest way I could put it) via this blog over the next year.  How am I going to do that?

Hmmm.. that's a bloody good question.

You're help would be greatly appreciated in flogging how great a blogger I am (wink wink, nudge nudge) hehehe.. but I will be searching around for some contacts perhaps over the next few months.

Lets see how I go.  Any help you might care to share on how I could go about these would be great.

- tork

Guest Post from Santa Claus

Ho Ho Ho...  Merry Christmas everyone!

Every christmas is a magical night for me. I love bringing joy to children of all ages all around the world.

I've been checking my list twice to see who's been naughty or nice.  And that's why I am guest posting at Tork's blog.

I see a new addition to my list.  Looks like Tork has had a baby boy and it's going to be his first Christmas!

Ooh.. how exciting! He's on the nice list, such a good boy.

Tork on the other hand, he's on the naughty list...

Tsk tsk tsk, such a naughty young man.

You can't fool Santa you know Tork!  I've seen all the tricks over the years.

Just because you're a big boy now and you're allowed to stay up all night, doesn't mean you can do it tonight to try and spot me!

Ho Ho!  You're not naughty Tork, just a cheeky boy in grown-up's clothes.  Go to sleep early tonight and wake up to your son's first Christmas.  That's the best present that Santa can give you.


I'm must be away now, for I have lots of work to do.  So, merry Christmas to all!

And have a good nights sleep Tork!

- Santa

Merry Xmas - I Love Your Guts - Happy Holidays!

As the title says!

To all my followers/readers, a safe and merry christmas!

I love your guts!!!!!!


- tork

All I Want For Christmas Is Sleep

I know just the present I want for Xmas..

Sleep!

Who's with me?

- tork

ps. like my sketch?

How Do Parents Celebrate New Years?

How do parents with one or more kids celebrate the new years?

Do they not go out at all?

Do they try organising parties at home?

Do they just find a baby sitter?

Does one go out and get party-faced whilst the other leaves early to take the kids home?



As my wife and I are having our first new years as parents, we'd love to know how everyone handles it...

Would love some ideas!!!

Plants vs Zombies - Last Minute Gift Idea for Dad or Kids

Struggling to find that last minute gift idea for Christmas (or for birthdays) for dad or the kids? Well, I've got a fantastic game that they'll fricken love.

Plants Vs Zombies

This game is the bees nees.  Fun for the whole family, from the occasional game player to the elite gamer (that's l33t for those playing at home).

It is a tower defence game and it's addictive like no other.  I've actually started playing it again after finishing it.

Its game play is smooth and also hilarious.  It is fantastic for all ages, as opposed to the bang-bang shoot-em ups.

When the second one comes out, it may well break the top purchased games of the year.  This is how highly regarded this game is amongst gamers.

Haven't heard of it?  Want to give it a shot?  You can grab it on many consoles.  The PC, your mobile phone or iPad. I even think there are Xbox versions.

Or, try an online trial version and play for free! You can purchase the game from this site if you like it, or you can also grab it via Steam, the iTunes store and Android Market as well.

Here's a video of it:

Now, if you purchase this game, no kick backs come to me.. This is not a paid ad or an affiliate link.  This is just one of the all time best games I've ever played. I love it so much I want you to love it too, hehehe!

And if you grab it for the kids or hubby (or even yourself), trust me, they'll love you for it!

Tell us what you think about it if you give it a test run :-)

- tork

Dear SAHMs, send picture messages to dads!

As a father who goes to work everyday, it sucks being away from my boy.  I'd rather be a stay at home mum, looking after kid and making millions of dollars from home.

But, alas, it's not to be.  It's not like I've got a terrible job.  It's a good job, I enjoy it.  I'm just like every other person though who'd love to LIVE THE DREAM! It's just... missing the little things, like a giggle from my little one or a cuddle when his teeth hurt.  That's what I miss and I am sure other dads with babies miss it too as they go to work.

So how do I get by?

Having photos on my desk is great. Thanks go to the wife when she gets that done for me.  I've currently got a wee photo of my boy sitting on Santa's knee (who he absolutely loved by the way).  But sometimes it's good to go that extra mile than the photo on the desk.

Everyone has got camera phones.  My wife and I sure as hell do!  They're the latest and greatest. We are set up to send and recieve pictures via MMS, and pretty much every day I will get a photo of what my little one is doing.

A snapshot playing on the ground with a massive grin gives me the same grin. Being away earning the dollars makes it a little bit easier.

So if you're a stay at home mum or dad, do the same for your husband or wife.  If it doesn't put a dent in your monthly phone bill, I highly recommend it.  It helps makes the day faster!!

Have you got any other tips for those away from their kids daily or for longer time periods?

- tork

What Dads Don't Want To Hear

Let's see how much shit this is going to get me in with the wife/mums, but here are a few things Dads or Husbands or Partners (whatever you want to call us) hate to hear from their other half...

My husband has got Man Flu

Every time I get sick, it's always the man flu.  Apparently all us dads over-react when we are sick and that women never whinge when they are sick.

Pfft.. balls to that! Gals say the same thing as guys when sick.  It's just not noticed as much cos fella's aren't as often crook.

Don't get me wrong, I always lend a hand when the wife is sick, I just don't like that saying wives have!

So, to the guys.  I say, if women are always going to use the phrase "It's just man flu", then men are allowed to say "It's just her period"...

..and there go all my women followers.

Going a bit grey there honey

Grey hairs?  Nope.. We're holding on to our wasted youth and pretending we didn't hear that.  The grey hair is probably just caused by the bright light in the room, causing a reflection and catching dust particles that are there-in causing the hair to appear a grey colour.  If the wife says I've got a grey hair and we're in a dark room, I still hold onto my youth and respond with:

"Nahh it's not mine.  Must've got stuck there whilst I was snogging your granny"

Makes her stop pointing out the greys quick smart!

Omigod, I can't believe you just did that in front of me

Whether it is breaking wind or dropping trousers for laughs, it's my house too, and it's happening.

This should be taken as a massive show of love towards our partner, that we are that comfortable with them, that there are no barriers.  Nope.  Apparently it's disgusting.

Around a group of guys, the love is there.  A fart is greeted with "Someone farted in here! You got me man!  It went into my mouth.." And a moon or a fruit basket is pointed and laughed at for at least the duration of three seconds.

Don't make us hold our farts in wives. Love us! Like we love you!

:-)


What is your most favourite/annoying wife quote?

- tork

Why Don't You Like Dad Blogs But Love Mum Blogs?

*sob*

A Daddy blogger is a much unloved creature.


Recent twitter-twatter on Twitter brought up some interesting points thanks to Resevoir Dad's latest Great Aussie Dad Blogs, of which I am lucky enough to be listed as one (thanks dude!).

Here's a couple of points that dad bloggers would love to know the answer to...

1. Dad blogs don't get approached for product reviews.

For this dad blog of mine, I've never been asked to talk about any cool products, Australian or overseas.

Nothing. Not one product that would interest kids, mums or dads.

Why?

Is it because no one wants to be told about what a man thinks about products for kids and families?  In Australia at least, the overloaded majority of bloggers are mums.  You'd think the dad bloggers would stick out?  You'd think a guy's perspective, something different, would be of value..

Perhaps I am doing something wrong.

Well, The Reservoir Dad tends to agree with me. Now, here's an aussie dad blogger agreeing that us Dads don't get the opportunity to review products.  This guy has appeared on Australia's The Today Show, The Circle and numerous other formats of media to do with his website.

That's just crazy.  Sure he's had some pretty rad sponsors, but still..

2. Dad blogs don't get anywhere near as many comments as a mum blog.

Let's do a blog hop to a few fave mum bloggers of mine.

Veronica at Some Day We Will Sleep. She's great. Writes from the heart.  Puts herself out there daily.  Heaps of comments.

Kirri at Happy Mums At Home. A top gal. She came to me for help with Twitter and we've been bloggy buds ever since. Crap loads of comments!

Mrs M at Mums Word and Donna at Nappy Daze. Always visiting me, and love I it. They've got comments on every single post.

So why don't I get loads of comments? Am I not putting myself out there enough?

Maybe not.  You won't see a photo of me or my family on this blog, but you'll read everything that's on my mind (so far, just like this post!).

A recent post of mine, Celebrating My First Year of Blogging got me three comments from my regulars, of whom I love as much as a dog loves licking himself.  This post is a celebration! I offer to help others with blogging in it! I add an article which never got accepted on another site, of which I spent hours/days/week putting a lot of time into. I guess though, sometimes you put so much work into things, that doesn't always mean they are going to be read.

Anyway, Colin of SuperParents and Associate Woman has noticed the same thing too.  As a Perth dad blogger, I had difficulty locating comments at least on his last few posts (sorry dude, i'm the same hehehehe).

But with Colin putting himself out there and having great connections with loads of parents/mummy bloggers via blogging conferences, he still isn't being rewarded with the same that mum blogs get.

3. Dad blogs will never be as popular as mum blogs.

Search Aussie Dad blog on Google.com. (not .com.au)  There is my blog at the very top of the list.  Not once have I ever got a hit with that search term.

Now, search for Aussie Mum blog.

You'll find sites dedicated to aussie mums, as well as an award for the Aussie Mummy Bloggers with the X-Factor. Who, by the way was another of my faves, Glowless, who won an Apple iPad 2. (fyi, grats!)  :-)

Ooh.. An interesting point is that another daddy blogger said to me on Twitter that he was talking with staff from Nuffnang, a popular advertising tool for Aussie bloggers.  He was being ignored by the person, who was eyeing off the Mum bloggers.

This tweet was then followed up by one of my cool mum blog tweeters saying "she has never made any noises about being approached for product reviews, but is being approached often anyway".

Man...

Why am I whinging like a baby?

Well, hopefully I'm not having too much of a whine. Hopefully I'm just talking about something that is wrong in the Aussie Blogging World!

So, don't forget us guys out there.  Whether we're talking about our nasty wives (hehehehehe), our kids getting sick, our terrible Dad Jokes, add us to your blogroll and keep in touch with the dads!  We want that same level of support that mums have between other mums.

We also want to make extra money for our growing families via blogging.  Any extra support for my family that I can get like the mums would be fricken great.


Well, that's about all I have to say about that now.  So what do you think about all that I've said so far?  Why do you think there aren't many Aussie Dad bloggers?

Looking forward to seeing what you think.


I'll leave you with this...


Love your local dad blog!

Get your husband blogging!

Get your own dad blogging!


Visit Reservoir Dad's site and check out a few dads if you are in search for some!

;-)

- tork

My Greatest Post, In My First Year of Blogging

Well, it's officially one year ago that I started this blogging caper.

Sure, I sucked hard for a good number of months.  I am still learning the tricks of the trade whilst being shy as hell and fighting for a voice as a dad blog amongst a sea of mums.  It's terribly tricky!!

I've totalled up a measly $103 dollars in a year thanks to blogging.  Working so hard really gets you down for such a low amount.  An amount I was hoping to feed my family with. Failing is a pain in the arse.  I hope I don't give up.

But, I've produced greatness, at least, what I think is great.  Hopefully it will serve as a memory some stage down the track for me.

My favourite post.  My greatest one yet.  Finally, I am a Dad.  I hope you enjoy it if you haven't yet read it.

In the mean time, I'm trying my hardest on reviving old bloggy projects.  Finding the time is an S.O.B. though :-)

- tork

Celebrating the Songs of my First Year

Music is a love of mine, as every other person on the face of this planet.

It soothes you.

It moves you.

It inspires you.

I was running a songs to inspire series that only a handful of people got into on my blog.  So I stopped and took it onto twitter (under #SongsToInspire).

In celebrating my first year of blogging, here are some of my faves that I've done over the year.

Top 5 Sax Solos in Songs

Songs To Inspire - Song 1

Songs to Inspire - Song 5

Best of Eurovision 2011 Germany

Enjoy!

- tork

My First Ever Blog Post

Celebrating my one year blogging, here is the very first post I ever made.

Awe-inspiring!

Hello from me

- tork

Celebrating My First Year of Blogging

It was December last year that I started blogging. This means my blog is ONE YEAR OLD.

Happy first birthday Tork's blog!!  Oh, what an interesting time it's been.

To celebrate my first year, I want to give back to you guys, my readers.  The only thing I can give you is the stuff in my brain.  My blogging knowledge.

I've been reading and learning loads about blogging over the past year.  A lot of it I wish I knew when I first started.  I would've done so much very differently.

So, in celebration of making a year, I'm offering you my services FOR FREE to help improve your blog.

Contact me today and ask me anything you like about blogging, especially if you are new to blogging. I'd really love to help.

Over the next few days I'll be looking back over my bloggy year.

You'll have to deal with my boring nostalga :-)

In the mean time, here is a guest post I did for a well known Aussie site that never got accepted. :-(  I put a lot into this post, so it's time it saw the light of day.

Enjoy!

- tork


A Father amongst the Mums

What is a dad doing writing a blog? You don’t see very many
of us. We are a rare species amongst a flock of mums.

I stick out like a thorn amongst a bed of roses, but hopefully I
give a father’s perspective of parenting amongst the mums.

In Australia, a majority of blogs are Mummy blogs. That’s not a
bad thing, its great! I love mums because they are the majority
of my followers, so thank god for the mums!

It’s great seeing mums writing and being creative. It’s better
than sitting on Facebook building up a farm on Farmville like so
many mums do.

So, why do I write?

I’ve said this previously on my blog:

Times are not kept in Facebook updates nor Twitter hashtags
Stories are held for our future.

I like to think that one day, someone can easily pick up and read my thoughts and stories from the
past. You think someone down the track will read all your tweets or updates? I don’t think so.

That is why I write. But! That’s not just why I blog.

Let me take you back to the start..

A Blog is Born

Ahh, I remember the day clearly. My wife is pregnant with our first child. I am sitting in my study
freaking my face out.

I ask myself “Am I going to be able to afford to feed and clothe both my wife and my first born on a
single salary?”. So it’s off to the internet!

I jump onto Google and type ‘How to make a million dollars whilst sitting on your big fat arse eating chips all day’.

Nah, I didn’t actually do this. It wouldn’t make any sense anyway as ones backside is fantastic and not fat, although I does enjoy me chips!

*ahem* But I digress.

I was actually on YouTube and I type in something along the lines of ‘make money on the internet’.
I was just intrigued at how folks are running websites and making a great living from them. I was
also extremely jealous, having tried to create a website myself years earlier without success.

So I find a video of some dude jibber-jabbering away about making dollars on the net. Blah-blah
this and blah-blah that. Then he stops and says “GET A BLOG. I cannot emphasise this enough!”

Yeah, okay. Let’s do that.

I had heard about these blog things and didn’t get the whole appeal about them. I do enjoy writing,
so, why not?! Onwards I go! Over to a little place called blogger and I set up an Aussie Dad Blog.

What to write about

I wasn’t exactly sure what my blog would be about. I knew that I’d be writing about being a father,
but what else could I do? So I basically did whatever popped into my mind. The moment I had the
blank text box in front of me to write something, I just wrote. I still do the same to this day, so you
never can be sure what you get with me.

The first few weeks were the pits. No one wanted to read my ramblings. Occasionally I got
someone to accidentally click a link, but they didn’t stay. *boohoo*

Nobody came because I wasn’t telling the right people to come visit.

So, I learnt from the best on how to blog, on how to tell the right people what I’ve done. I’ve learnt
tips on how to set out a blog, on how to write posts, how to use social media, as well as learning
from my own mistakes.

Now, I still make mistakes, but I’m sharing what I’ve learnt with blog tips of my own. I also post
inspiring songs every weekend, have my own blogger award I love running, but my favourite thing
to do is just write.

So, who is Torkona?

That is a good question, a question that I still ask myself. I am often asked more about myself, of
what makes me tick. The best way I can answer that is, I am just me.

I’m a country born Aussie living in the big sticks. I’m into every sport you can think of. I am
also quite clever at the art of ‘hand fart noises’, a technique I aim to pass down to my future
generations.

But, I’m just some guy who likes to talk about the things I love.

And finally, I am a Dad.

My world revolves around my son, so the majority of my posts are about my boy and the realisations that I am now a Dad and have to be a grown up.

Pfft, nuts to that! Grown ups are people like my parents or my school teachers. But, we’ll see how long I can get away being a clown. I’m sure when the young fella starts acting up like I did growing up, I’ll have to be one of them nasty grown ups!

But I love my new little family. I can’t wait for what is going to happen over the next few months and years in my household. And I’m sure to be blogging through every step of it.

Writing is in my blood

So, after about a month of learning the basics on blogging I realised I’ve found back my passion
with a new way to express it.

Writing. I’ve loved it always. I can’t say I am a big reader, well, reader of books at least. I have
read about as many books as I have fingers. And no, I’m not some freaky side show act with more fingers than Tiger Woods has girlfriends. About ten books would be the total amount of books I’ve read.

So I’m not sure why I love to write, I just do. I grew up writing poetry, which I am trying to find more time to do so. I’ve always wanted to write a book, I just don’t have the time or patience to nut one
out. I’ve always said, I’ve never had much patience. I guess I’d never make a good Doctor.

*Boom-boom tish!*

So even though my blog was solely created to gain the second wage that I wanted for my new
family, it no longer has that sole purpose.

My passion for writing is back.

I want to make people laugh. I want to make people cry. Joyful crying of course, as in “ohh, that’s
beautiful!”, not “I’M-A gonna make-a you cry!!” Hmm, not sure why I did the Super Mario brothers
accent there.

Anyway, whatever my posts may be, I write for my family. That is what my blog Tork’s Blog is for.

But hopefully one day, you’ll type into Google ‘How to make a million dollars’ and you’ll land on my
blog to see a picture of me sitting on my fat arse eating a bag of chips.

Ahh, it is to dream.

In the mean time, I hope you’ll come over and visit. Thanks for reading.

- tork