The Urban Daddy

Happy Monday! It’s March 2nd, 2026 and it’s still freaking cold in Toronto. -15, feeling like -20, but there is some good news! It’s “warming up” to -4 this afternoon, and next week the temperatures are projected to be 15 degrees! (Around 60 for our American friends). So much happening today… An ex-Google executive just said that degrees in law and medicine are a waste of time because they’re…

The world has become a pretty shitty place recently, where people record incidents instead of helping, or think that social media is reality. They think they know everything and that its okay or cool to speak to people in a less than respectful manner. It’s a crying shame, and certainly not the way we were brought up. Here are 13 ways we can support each other (even when life gets complicated or…

Today would have been my father’s 87th birthday. He passed away when he was just 62 years old (25 years ago). It was a complete shock at the time. He missed the birth of my three children and he would have loved to have spent time with them. It’s one of those things where the older we get we look back and realize that we were robbed of those moments because in the moment we’re so caught up with…

I love spinach. I forgot how much. Cooked, though. Not raw. Never raw…  I don’t watch the Oscar’s because I don’t watch movies. But I hear our mayor is there – was he really trying to get on the red carpet? Or that was just a joke. If he really was, I’m sure Kathleen Wynne and Norm Kelly would have already done it. LOL. It’s great that Ford thinks he’s a celebrity and should even be there (even…

Ah, neighbours. Sometimes fantastic, sometimes terrible. Usually they leave you alone and you leave them alone.  You wave at each other in the morning and on weekends, see them when they cut their grass or shovel their snow, but you don’t know their names or much about them.  You can do this for years.  Live beside a family and know very little about them. I, however, can be quite friendly…

I never really liked Halloween. Not as a kid. Not as a parent. Not even now. And I’ve tried. Believe me, I’ve tried. Maybe it started in the 1970s, when I first realized that Halloween came with pressure. You couldn’t just throw on a costume. It had to be cool, not nerdy. You had to make sure it wouldn’t get you picked on, because back then, kids had zero filters and even less empathy. If your…

I’m a huge oatmeal kind of guy and I prefer the Presidents Choice organic quick flakes oatmeal not just because it takes less than 10 minutes to make, but it’s also a yummy, healthy treat.  Oatmeal has been my breakfast of choice for almost a year now.  I add some organic brown sugar or demerara sugar and a few plain, roasted sunflower seeds and it’s delicious. I’ve even gotten the kids on board…

I came across a great article by the folks at FullTimeNanny.com entitled; “What Should a Nanny Do if her Boss is Upset with Her”, and I immediately saw the cross-over potential that this article brings for those new to the workforce or as a refresher to those already in the workforce for a few years. Sometimes you know when your boss is upset with you and sometimes there will be no clue, and…

When I was younger, I went into business with a friend. We were introduced through someone else, hit it off, and thought we could build something great together. It didn’t go the way we planned. For years, the business barely scraped by. We worked hard — sometimes together, sometimes on our own — but no matter what we did, money was always tight. We patched the gaps with side jobs and personal…

Coping Mechanisms: Then & Now Originally written sometime around July 2013, when sleep was a rumour and silence was suspicious. Updated again in 2019, because apparently I still need coping mechanisms. Posted in 2025 for reflection. Part I: The Original Draft – circa 2013 As I get older, the number of coping mechanisms I’ve come to rely on are… well, growing. Exponentially. Like Lego underfoot…

I’ve been told that I don’t “act my age”. I’ve always assumed that it was a bad thing, but as I get older, I’m not so sure it’s as insulting as I might have thought it to be. At the time of writing this post, I was a very young 41-years-old but I feel like (and I guess that also means acting like) I’m in my 30’s.  Yes, I can turn it on an off as required – no one wants to hear from a tax…

I never thought I would post this “gem” from July 26, 2011. I read through the points and while a lot of it is relevant only to me, the comment at the bottom about what I ate for dinner after such a long and busy day as a father made me chuckle, so I figured what the heck… Here was a Monday back in 2011, as a father of 3 children, the youngest just over a year old. My Monday… I managed to get…

I wrote this post back in 2013, but never posted it. The intention was to find the 13 wrestlers who I felt were going to break out and become stars. I think I nailed the list as far as guys who had charisma, talent, agility and ability, and I’d say almost all of these guys had have pretty decent careers except for my 13th pick. Here was my 2013 list; 13. Justin Gabriel 12. Dean Ambrose 11.…

Boy, time sure flies. I started writing this post just after the first weekend in October had ended.  Our holiday Yom Kippur – the holiest day in the Jewish calendar and the day we ask for forgiveness for our sins began on Friday night and ended Saturday night.  On that holiday, we also ask to be inscribed in the book of life.  Pretty serious stuff.  Who wouldn’t want to have another year to live…