Discovering Dad » Technology

How Text Messaging Has Helped My Marriage

Jeremy — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 02:36:03 +0000

This article written by Contributing Writer Daniel De Guia.

I have friends with strict “Do not EVER text message me” policies and would sooner sucker punch you than to engage in a conversation via text. On the flip side of the coin, I have other friends that only prefer to get text messages over phone calls.

A couple of years ago, I became so fed up with people text messaging me and paying for the extra fees that I added a text messaging bundle to my cellphone service. Once I had this service, I returned the favor by text messaging all my friends whenever I felt the need to go grab a beer. Instead of spending 45 minutes making calls, it was much easier to send a single text to several people.

The same concept applied when my wife signed-up for a text plan. It became a preferred method for us to communicate short bits of information to each other throughout the day. In fact, I can honestly say that I communicate more with her now than I ever did before texting.

Here’s a couple of thoughts about how text messaging helped my wife and I maintain a strong, healthy relationship:

Continual communicationMy wife and I have conflicting work schedules. She has a few cleaning jobs during the day, while I’m at work and the kids are in school. When I get home from work at the end of the day, my wife races off to her evening job. On an average day, we’re lucky to see each other for an hour during the day, until she gets off of her night job at 11pm or midnight. Because of this flip-flopped schedule, most of our conversations take place through text messages.
Keeping the flame aliveNow that our daughter can read quite well, it’s no longer safe to leave spicy little notes to my wife scattered around the house. To avoid prematurely having to answer some awkward questions, we’ll send these little notes to each other’s cell phones.
A simple ‘I love you’My wife means the world to me and if I can’t remember the last time I told her that I loved her, that means it’s been too long. Usually, at least once a day, I’ll send her a text message just to tell her that I love her.

Do you use text messaging to communicate with your husband or wife? How has it affected your marriage?

Daniel De Guia is a Contributing Writer for Discovering Dad. His personal site is deguia.net. You can also connect with Daniel via Twitter @deguia.

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You Are My Idol – Week 3 Winner and Blogging Idol Update

Jeremy — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 06:12:09 +0000

What a difference a week can make. After hitting a new high of 309 subscribers last week, then sinking to a low of 274 subscribers by week’s end, I am very excited that the count has risen back up to a respectable 340 subscribers as of today. Thanks to your outstanding support, Discovering Dad is turning in a respectable performance in the Blogging Idol competition hosted at Daily Blog Tips.

You are all my Idols!!!

We are now down to the final 7 days of the competition, which ends on July 31, 2008. At the end of the contest, I plan on sharing some of my key learnings with all of you about the costs and benefits of prioritizing subscriptions second only to content quality for an entire month. Stay tuned!

For now though, the contest is still on, and I’m hoping that Discovering Dad can finish strong. I need your help though. If you like the site and find the content useful or entertaining, then please subscribe to my feed or subscribe via e-mail. Personal recommendations from you to your friends also goes a long way – nothing beats word of mouth in getting people to take action.

Thanks for subscribing and recommending the site to others – you rock!

There are incentives to subscribing for you and your friends:

Random Weekly Winner – Week 3

Khyle from False Awareness

Congratulations Khyle! You win a free t-shirt from Lijit Search!

Top Referrer for the Month of July (through July 24th)

1. Whiskey In My Sippy Cup – 234

2. I Am Husband – 166

3. Mom Generations – Jane’s Blog – 72

4. Momo Fali – 65

5. Secret Agent Mama – 62

There are several other sites on the rise for referrals of unique visitors, including: D is for Dad, Dad of Divas, Jogging In Circles, Honea Express and Being Michael’s Daddy.

What are the prizes for the Top 3 Referring Sites?

I’ve expanded the prize packages from the Top 2 to the Top 3
Referring Sites based on the addition of a new contest sponsor. I also
anticipate sweetening the 3 prizes throughout the month, as I get
additional sponsors to contribute more prizes.

Top Referring Site for the Month of July – $50 SmartyPig Gift Card, a t-shirt from Lijit Search and a Featured Review of your site by me on Discovering Dad.

2nd Top Referring Site for the Month of July - $10 Joe’s Crab Shack Gift Card, a t-shirt from Lijit Search and a review of your site by me included in the normal rotation of posts on Discovering Dad.

3rd Top Referring Site for the Month of July – A prize pack of 8 popular books from Hachette Book Group USA, including A is for Atticus: Baby Names from Great Books, The Marriage Benefit and six others.

WHEN I win Blogging Idol (thanks to all of you) I will throw in another $100 American Express Gift Card to the Top Referring Site!!! (I have to WIN First Prize in the competiton for this to happen though )

The field is wide open for someone to get a come from behind win at the end here with some serious effort on your part.

Will someone unseat Mr. Lady at Whiskey In My Sippy Cup? Who is up for that challenge? I’d love to see a good, old-fashioned throw down to see who will win – pull the stops out and get creative…you can win some great stuff by winning or placing in this contest.

Because diapers don’t grow on trees. Sign up for Never Blue Ads.

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Mobile Dad – Discovering Dad On Your Phone

Jeremy — Fri, 16 May 2008 02:57:00 +0000

Thanks to a tip from Corvida at SheGeeks, I was able to create a mobile version of Discovering Dad on MoFuse for FREE! So COOL!

If you have mobile Internet access, add my site: http://discoveringdad.mofuse.mobi/

CALL ME! (Not really – Just leave a comment!)

Twittering Dad vs. Texting Daughter (original episode)
Twittering Dad vs Texting Daughter 2
Tip of the Week – Lijit Advanced Search Widget

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Twittering Dad vs. Texting Daughter: Episode 2

Jeremy — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 02:12:00 +0000

I have a 13-year-old daughter. She talks to her friends all day long. They have in-depth conversations with each other about boys and the current dramasodes happening at school. Apparently, there is so much to talk about that it requires ongoing dialogue via Instant Messenger and text messaging throughout the day and evening.

As adept as my daughter is at conversation, you would think that she and I talk at length about how things are going for her each day. Well, let me tell you, such is not the case. Talking to my daughter on the phone is like having a dialogue with someone on Twitter.

*Note: For anyone who isn’t aware, Twitter has a 140 character limit to each message posted/tweeted. Also, this article is a continuation of a previous post Twittering Dad vs. Texting Daughter. It will be an ongoing series at Discovering Dad.

Here’s how our phone conversation went today:

Me: Hi Angel! How’s everything going today? (39 characters)
Her: Good. (5 characters)

Me: Anything new happening at school? (33 characters)
Her: No, not really. (15 characters)

Me: Well, there has to be something going on. How are your grades looking? (71 characters)
Her: They’re good. (13 characters)

Me: OK. Good like all ‘A’s, or good like no ‘C’s, or good like all ‘A’s and ‘B’s? (77 characters)
Her: Yeah. ‘A’s and ‘B’s. (20 characters)

Me: Well, make sure you do your homework tonight and finish the year strong. [Pause] What do you want to talk about? (104 characters)
Her: I want you to meet my boyfriend. (32 characters)

Me: [Hesitation - thinking of ways to lock her in a closet for 5 years.] (0 characters)

Me: Did you show him my blog post from yesterday? http://discoveringdad.blogspot.com/2008/04/dads-barber-shop-is-open-for-business.html (131 characters)
Her: You mean the one where you showed your fat to everyone!?! (57 characters)

Me: No, not the diet plan http://discoveringdad.blogspot.com/2008/04/discovering-dad-diet-plan-i-dont.html The one about my new barber shop:) (137 characters)
Her: [Pause - silence. She pulls up the site on her computer.] (0 characters)

Her: Daa-aad! What did you do? You look sooooooo scary! (50 characters)
Me: Good. Then, I’m ready to meet your boyfriend. Tell him to be at the barber shop tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. (102 characters)

Her: Uh, no! (7 characters)
Me: That’s OK. I’ll send him a text message and tell him to meet you there;o) (74 characters)

Stay tuned for the next episode of Twittering Dad vs. Texting Daughter. Will Dad finally get to meet the boyfriend over a friendly haircut? Or, will daughter realize that grades are more important than romance and text messaging? Join us on Discovering Dad next week to see how the story unfolds!

Twittering Dad vs. Texting Daughter (original episode)

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Stay Connected with Dad – Learn More About RSS

Jeremy — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 05:34:00 +0000

May 1, 2008, is RSS Awareness Day. For those of you who may not know, RSS stands for Real Simple Syndication, and it is the means by which readers can subscribe to feeds to stay better connected and informed by blogs.

I will be posting in more detail about this topic on May 1st, but I wanted to share a few links with you in advance, in case you wanted to read-up on the technology.

Visit RSSDay.org to see a video and read more about the subject.

Wikipedia information on RSS.

What is RSS? RSS Explained.

Visit Daily Blog Tips article on the origination of RSS Awareness Day.

Also, if you’re not already a subscriber to Discovering Dad, subscribe to my RSS feed.

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